熨

yùn
verb HSK 7-9 #11,352

Meanings

  1. 1 to iron (clothes)
  2. 2 to press

Examples

HSK 2
Tā měitiān zǎoshang dōu yào yùn yīfu.
She irons clothes every morning.
HSK 3
Nǐ néng bāng wǒ yùn yíxià zhè jiàn chènshān ma?
Can you help me iron this shirt?

Tips

mistakes
熨 has two pronunciations: yùn (to iron clothes) and yù (smooth, reconciled, literary). The common word 熨斗 (clothes iron) uses the yùn pronunciation.

Components

radical
火 huǒ
fire
The fire radical sits at the bottom - flames pictured rising. It anchors the meaning of heat: an iron is hot metal pressed onto fabric. The radical indexes 熨 with all heat-application chars: 烧 burn, 煮 boil, 烤 roast, 灯 lamp, 烟 smoke.
phonetic
尉 wèi
to soothe; officer
尉 supplies the sound - wèi drifting to yùn, an irregular shift. It also adds a perfect semantic note: 尉 originally meant to press down with a hot hand, pacifying skin or soothing an ache - exactly what an iron does to wrinkled cloth. Same phonetic in 慰 console.

Stroke Order

熨 yùn