爨 (cuàn) · (classical) to cook over a stove

Meanings

1 (classical) to cook over a stove
2 (classical) cooking stove; kitchen hearth

Characters

爨

cuàn

to cook; cooking stove

Examples

HSK 7-9

文言里爨指生火做饭。

Wényán lǐ cuàn zhǐ shēng huǒ zuòfàn.

In classical Chinese this character means to light the stove and cook a meal.

Tips

history

爨 is one of the most stroke-heavy common-dictionary characters (30 strokes) and is not used as a standalone word in modern Chinese - the cooking sense is now carried by 做饭 and 灶. It survives as a surname and in the classical phrase 分爨 for brothers splitting the household into separate cooking fires. It is indexed under the fire radical 火.

memory

Read it as a kitchen scene from top to bottom: hands lifting a pot onto a stove frame, a 林-like bundle of firewood, then 大 hands feeding the 火 flames below.

Components

radical

火 huǒ

fire

火 is the fire radical, sitting at the very bottom as the flames under the stove. It is the indexing radical and the meaning anchor: this whole character is about fire used for cooking.

ideograph

臼 jiù

hands lifting a pot onto the stove (graphic residue)

The whole top is a fused cooking scene - two hands raising a pot onto a stove frame, with a 林-shaped wood bundle and 大 hands inside. These pieces have merged into one 26-stroke graphic mass that does not split into clean standalone characters; 臼 marks the mortar-like top frame.