炬 (jù): torch

Measure Word

一支火炬 zhī

Meanings

1 torch
2 (literary) flame; fire

Characters

炬

jù

torch; flame

Examples

他手持火炬走在队伍最前面。

Tā shǒuchí huǒjù zǒu zài duìwǔ zuì qiánmiàn.

He walked at the head of the procession holding a torch.

奥运圣火炬传递经过了许多国家。

Àoyùn shènghuǒ jù chuándì jīngguò le xǔduō guójiā.

The Olympic torch relay passed through many countries.

古城付之一炬。

Gǔchéng fùzhīyījù.

The ancient city was reduced to ashes (lit. 'consigned to a single torch').

Tips

memory

炬 = 火 (fire) + 巨 (jù 'huge', also the phonetic). Picture a 'huge fire' you can carry — a torch. The phonetic 巨 hands you the reading directly.

history

The chengyu 付之一炬 (fùzhīyījù, 'consign it to a single torch') describes burning something to ashes; it traces back to descriptions of Xiang Yu (项羽) burning the Qin palaces. The single character 炬 still carries that flame imagery in modern compounds: 火炬 'torch', 目光如炬 'eyes blazing like torches' (sharply perceptive).

Components

radical

火 huǒ

fire

Fire radical on the left — pictograph of flames rising from a base, the side-form of 火 with its sweep tucked tight. Indexes 炬 in the fire family with 灯 lamp, 烛 candle, 炎 inferno. Marks the character as a kind of fire: specifically a hand-held torch held aloft.

phonetic

巨 jù

huge; carpenter’s square

Right side 巨 supplies the sound jù directly, no drift. 巨 alone means "huge" — the image of an oversized flame matches a torch beautifully, so the phonetic doubles as faint semantic flavour: a great fire held in the hand. Same phonetic in 拒 refuse, 距 distance, 矩 rule.