炸 (zhà): to explode; to blow up; to bomb

Meanings

Zhàdàn bàozhà le.

The bomb exploded.

Zhè zuò qiáo bèi zhàhuǐ le.

This bridge was blown up.

Wǒ xǐhuān chī zhá jī.

I like eating fried chicken.

Bǎ yú zhá dào jīnhuáng sè.

Deep-fry the fish until golden.

grammar

炸 has two pronunciations: zhà (4th tone) for 'to explode/bomb' and zhá (2nd tone) for 'to deep-fry.' 炸弹 (zhàdàn, bomb) vs 炸鸡 (zhájī, fried chicken).

usage

In internet slang, 炸了 (zhà le) means 'blew up' — something went viral or someone got extremely angry.

炸 zhà