shāo
burn; cook; bake; roast; run a fever
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我正在烧水。
wǒ zhèngzài shāo shuǐ.
I am boiling water.
他喜欢吃烧烤。
tā xǐhuan chī shāokǎo.
He likes to eat barbecue.
这个菜有点儿烧糊了。
zhège cài yǒudiǎnr shāohú le.
This dish is a bit burnt.
烹 (pēng)
cook
灼 (zhuó)
scorch
冷 (lěng)
cold
凉 (liáng)
cool
The Chinese character 烧 (shāo) for "to burn" is composed of two parts: 火 (huǒ) meaning "fire" and 勺 (sháo) meaning "ladle". The character 烧 originally meant "to use a ladle to take hot water from a pot". Over time, the meaning of 烧 expanded to include "to burn" in general.The character 烧 is also used in a number of other words related to burning, such as 烧烤 (shāokǎo) "barbecue", 烧水 (shāoshuǐ) "to boil water", and 烧饭 (shāofàn) "to cook rice".
