爆 (bào): to explode; to burst

Meanings

1 to explode; to burst
2 to quick-fry (cooking technique)
3 to surge; to go viral (internet slang)

Characters

爆

bao

to explode; to burst

Examples

轮胎突然爆了。

Lúntāi tūrán bào le.

The tire suddenly burst.

这条新闻在网上爆了。

Zhè tiáo xīnwén zài wǎngshàng bào le.

This news went viral online.

爆炒腰花是一道名菜。

Bàochǎo yāo huā shì yīdào míng cài.

Quick-fried kidney is a famous dish.

气球被太阳晒爆了。

Qìqiú bèi tàiyáng shài bào le.

The balloon burst from the sun's heat.

Tips

usage

In modern internet Chinese, 爆 means something went viral or is extremely popular: 爆款 (bào kuǎn, hit product), 爆红 (bào hóng, suddenly famous).

memory

火 (fire) on the left + 暴 (violent) on the right = a violent fire event, i.e., an explosion.

Components

radical

火 huǒ

fire

Left fire radical — the indexing radical. Explosions involve sudden ignition and combustion, so the fire radical is the literal anchor. Common in heat/fire actions: 烧 (burn), 烤 (roast), 炸 (deep-fry/explode), 燃 (ignite). Tells the reader instantly: this is about heat-driven force.

phonetic

暴 bào

violent; sudden

Right component supplies an exact phonetic match (bào) and doubles as semantic — 暴 itself means 'violent, sudden, fierce'. The combination reads as 'violent fire' = explosion. Same phonetic in 瀑 pù (waterfall), 曝 pù/bào (expose). A clear case of doubled semantic + phonetic where both halves push the same meaning.