煤

The Chinese character 煤 (méi) for "coal" is composed of two parts: the radical 火 (huǒ) for "fire" on the left, and the phonetic component 末 (mò) on the right. The radical 火 indicates that 煤 is related to fire, while the phonetic component 末 provides a clue to its pronunciation.The original form of 煤 was 炏, which was a pictograph of a piece of coal burning in a fire. Over time, the character evolved into its current form, 煤. The addition of the radical 火 reinforces the meaning of "coal" and helps to distinguish it from other characters with similar pronunciations.The character 煤 has a long history in Chinese culture. It was first used in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD) to refer to a type of black mineral that could be burned as fuel. In the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), 煤 was used to describe a specific type of coal that was found in the mountains of Shanxi Province. This coal was considered to be of high quality and was used to heat homes and palaces.Today, 煤 is still used to refer to coal in Chinese. It is also used in a number of other contexts, such as in the phrase 煤气 (méiqì) for "coal gas" and 煤油 (méiyóu) for "kerosene".