焕 (huàn) · shining, glowing, lustrous

Meanings

1 shining
2 glowing
3 lustrous
4 brilliant (of light or appearance)

Characters

焕

huàn

shining; glowing; lustrous

Examples

HSK 5

他精神焕发地走进了会议室。

Tā jīngshénhuànfā de zǒujìn le huìyìshì.

He walked into the conference room looking radiant and full of energy.

HSK 7-9

古城经过修缮后焕然一新。

Gǔchéng jīngguò xiūshàn hòu huànrányìxīn.

The ancient city looked completely new after renovation.

Tips

usage

焕 is a bound morpheme - it almost never appears alone in modern Chinese. It appears in set phrases like 焕发 (to glow/radiate), 焕然一新 (completely renewed), and 容光焕发 (glowing with health).

Components

radical

火 huǒ

fire

Left-side fire radical - a pictograph of flames licking upward. Indexes 焕 in the light and heat family alongside 烧 to burn, 烈 fierce, 灯 lamp. Carries the meaning: brilliance, the bright dancing glow of fire, which extends figuratively to anything dazzling or radiant.

phonetic

奂 huàn

abundant; resplendent

Right side 奂 supplies the sound directly - huàn to huàn, identical. 奂 also adds meaning: it classically describes things resplendent, abundantly bright, often used of grand buildings. So 焕 stacks fire onto splendour, giving the picture of brilliant blazing radiance - the resplendence of light itself.