Meaning of 热
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- to warm up
- to heat up
- hot (of weather)
- heat
- fervent
How to use 热
热 (rè) describes hot weather, food, or drinks, and as a verb it means to heat something up. It also appears in words about strong feelings, like 热情 (rèqíng) and 热爱 (rè'ài). Example: 今天很热。(Jīntiān hěn rè.) It is very hot today.
The four dots at the bottom of 热 (rè) are a form of fire 火. Picture a hand (扌) holding something over the flames, and it gets hot.
Common mistake: Learners often say 我很热 when they mean the food or weather is hot, but this can sound odd in some contexts. For spicy food use 辣 (là), not 热. Also do not confuse 热 with 熟 (shú, cooked), which has the same four dots at the bottom.
热 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
热 rè · to warm up · 10 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 热.
| 热情 | rèqíng | cordial; enthusiastic |
| 热爱 | rè'ài | to love ardently; to adore |
| 热烈 | rèliè | enthusiastic; ardent |
| 热闹 | rènao | lively; bustling; full of activity; to make things lively; to have a good time |
| 热心 | rèxīn | enthusiastic; ardent; zealous |
| 热量 | rèliàng | heat; quantity of heat |
| 加热 | jiārè | to heat |
| 热门 | rèmén | popular; hot; in vogue |
| 热水 | rèshuǐ | hot water |
| 热线 | rèxiàn | hotline (communications link) |
| 热点 | rèdiǎn | hot spot; point of special interest |
| 热水器 | rèshuǐqì | water heater |
Questions about 热
What does 热 mean?
热 (rè) means "to warm up; to heat up" and is used as a adjective and verb.
How do you write 热?
热 is made of 1 character: 热 (10 strokes). That is 10 strokes in total.
Is 热 an HSK word?
Yes. 热 is on the HSK 1 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 热 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 热 is written 熱.
How do I say 'heat up the food' with 热?
You can use 热 as a verb: 把饭热一下 (bǎ fàn rè yíxià), heat up the food a bit. 加热 (jiārè) is a more formal word for heating.
Why is 热闹 pronounced rènao with a neutral tone?
In everyday speech the second syllable 闹 loses its tone and becomes light, so it sounds like rènao. It means lively or bustling, for example 街上很热闹 (jiē shang hěn rènao), the street is very lively.