Two main senses: (1) literal, steaming hot food, drink, or a steamy room; (2) figurative, a scene full of lively activity (a busy workplace, a thriving industry). The literal food sense is most common in everyday speech.
memory
热气 (hot steam) + 腾腾 (rising, rising, reduplicated verb 腾 'to rise'). Picture steam curling up from a fresh bowl of dumplings.
