燙 meaning and stroke order
To scald; to iron clothes or hair
How to write 燙, stroke by stroke
16 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 燙
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- to scald
- to burn (by scalding)
- to blanch (cooking)
- to heat (sth) up in hot water
- to perm
- to iron
How 燙 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Fire.
火 gives the meaning and 湯 hints at the sound.
Radical: 火 (fire), shared by 128 characters on this site.
How to remember 燙
Picture hot soup 湯 (tāng) sitting right on top of a fire 火 (huǒ). Soup over a flame gets scalding hot, and 湯 also gives the sound tàng.
燙 (tàng) describes something hot enough to burn you, and also means to scald, blanch food, perm hair, or iron clothes. It often works as an adjective for very hot drinks or food. 小心，湯很燙。(Xiǎoxīn, tāng hěn tàng.) Careful, the soup is very hot.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 燙 (tàng, fourth tone) with its phonetic part 湯 (tāng, first tone, soup), since they look and sound alike. Remember that the one with 火 underneath is about heat and burning.
Common words with 燙
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 燙傷 | tàngshāng | to scald | |
| 滾燙 | gǔntàng | boiling hot |
Questions about 燙
How many strokes are in 燙?
燙 is written with 16 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 燙 mean?
燙 (tàng) means to scald; to iron clothes or hair. A common word with it is 烫伤 (tàngshāng), meaning "to scald".
How do you pronounce 燙?
燙 is pronounced tàng, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 燙?
The radical of 燙 is 火, which carries the idea of "fire". Dictionaries list 燙 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 燙?
燙 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 烫, used in mainland China and Singapore.
What is the difference between 燙 (tàng) and 熱 (rè)?
熱 (rè) is the general word for hot, like hot weather. 燙 (tàng) means hot enough to hurt when touched, so it is used for very hot liquids, food, or objects.
How do you say to perm hair or iron clothes with 燙?
To perm hair is 燙頭髮 (tàng tóufa). To iron clothes is 燙衣服 (tàng yīfu), and an iron is 熨斗 (yùndǒu).