燥 (zào): dry

Meanings

1 dry
2 parched
3 arid
4 restless; irritable (due to dryness or heat)

Characters

燥

zào

dry; parched

Examples

冬天空气干燥，皮肤容易干裂。

Dōngtiān kōngqì gānzào, pífū róngyì gān liè.

In winter the air is dry and skin easily cracks.

这种天气又热又燥，让人心烦。

Zhèzhǒng tiānqì yòu rè yòu zào, ràng rénxīn fán.

This hot and parched weather is very irritating.

Tips

memory

燥 has the fire radical 火 on the left — parched by fire/heat. Don't confuse with 躁 (zào, restless/impetuous), which has 足 (foot). 燥 = dry; 躁 = agitated.

Components

radical

火 huǒ

fire

Left-side fire radical — pictograph of flames rising. Indexes 燥 in the fire family with 烧 to burn, 烤 to roast, 烫 scalding, 烟 smoke. Fire dries things out, so 燥 means 'dry, parched, arid' (干燥 dry weather, 烦燥 hot-and-bothered restless). The radical is the whole semantic spine here.

phonetic

喿 zào

chirping (here phonetic)

Right 喿 supplies the sound — same zào, same tone, a clean phonetic. 喿 itself shows three 口 mouths over 木 a tree, picturing birds chirping in branches. Same phonetic anchors 操 to grasp, 噪 noisy, 躁 impatient — all reading cāo / zào. Useful family to memorise together.