烙 meaning and stroke order
To burn, to brand; hot iron
How to write 烙, stroke by stroke
10 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
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- 10
Meaning of 烙
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- to brand
- to iron
- to bake (in a pan)
- used in 炮烙[pao2 luo4]
How 烙 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Fire.
火 gives the meaning and 各 hints at the sound.
Radical: 火 (fire), shared by 128 characters on this site.
How to remember 烙
烙 is fire 火 on the left with 各 (gè) on the right giving the sound. Picture pressing something burning hot onto each 各 item to leave a mark, like a brand or a hot pan.
烙 (lào) means to brand with heat, to iron, or to bake flatbread in a dry pan. It shows up in 烙印 (làoyìn, brand or lasting mark) and in food words like 烙饼 (làobǐng). Example: 妈妈在锅里烙饼。(Māma zài guō lǐ lào bǐng.) Mom is making flatbread in the pan.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 烙 with 络 (luò, net or network) and 骆 (luò, as in 骆驼 camel), which share the 各 part but have a different left side. Remember that only the fire radical 火 gives the burning meaning. Also note that 烙 is said with the fourth tone, lào.
Common words with 烙
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 烙印 | làoyìn | to brand (cattle etc); brand |
Questions about 烙
How many strokes are in 烙?
烙 is written with 10 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 烙 mean?
烙 (lào) means to burn, to brand; hot iron. A common word with it is 烙印 (làoyìn), meaning "to brand (cattle etc); brand".
How do you pronounce 烙?
烙 is pronounced lào, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 烙?
The radical of 烙 is 火, which carries the idea of "fire". Dictionaries list 烙 under this radical.
When is 烙 pronounced luò instead of lào?
Only in the old word 炮烙 (páoluò), the name of an ancient torture using heated bronze. In everyday words like 烙印 and 烙饼 it is always lào.
Can 烙印 be used in a figurative sense?
Yes. Besides branding cattle, 烙印 often means a deep, lasting mark left by an experience or era. For example, 时代的烙印 (shídài de làoyìn) means the imprint of an era.