灬

sìdiǎndǐ

radical variant

Meanings

1 fire at bottom radical (variant of 火)
2 bottom form of the fire radical, Kangxi #86

Tips

usage

Four small strokes lined up under a character, that is the cooking-fire cue. 灬 marks heat, flames, roasting, and shining light. The pedagogical name sìdiǎndǐ literally means "four-dot bottom". Never written alone; the standalone form is 火.

history

灬 is the calligraphic flattening of 火. The standing flame of the full fire glyph spread into four short licks so the radical could fit beneath another component without crowding it. The dots visually echo embers scattered under a pot.

usage

Heat and cooking cue: 热 (hot), 烧 (burn), 煮 (boil), 烤 (roast), 蒸 (steam), 照 (shine), 黑 (black, originally smoke-stained), 然 (originally "burn").

Radical

Fire Kangxi #86

Pictograph of rising flames. As a radical 火 marks characters about fire, heat, cooking, and combustion — 灯 (lamp), 烟 (smoke), 炒 (stir-fry), 烤 (roast), 烫 (scalding), 燃 (ignite). The bottom variant 灬 (four dots of fire) appears under 热, 煮, 蒸, 焦, where it preserves the same heat semantics.

Forms

火 huǒ

Default 91 characters

灬 sìdiǎndǐ

Bottom 19 characters

Used in

View all 19 →

Showing 6 of 19 · bottom form 灬 of 火

点 diǎn

o'clock · a little; a bit

照 zhào

to shine; to illuminate · to photograph; photo

热 rè

hot · heat

熊 xióng

bear (animal) · to scold; to berate (colloquial)

熟 shú

ripe; cooked · familiar

煮 zhǔ

to boil; to cook (in water) · to stew; to simmer

Stroke Order