飚 (biāo) · to surge, to soar, to race

Meanings

1 to surge
2 to soar
3 to race
4 to shoot up (of prices, speed, etc.)

Characters

飚

biāo

whirlwind; to surge

Examples

HSK 4

他在高速公路上飚车。

Tā zài gāosù gōnglù shàng biāochē.

He was street racing on the highway.

HSK 7-9

油价又飚上去了。

Yóujià yòu biāo shàngqù le.

Oil prices have surged again.

Tips

usage

飚 is a variant of 飙. Both are used, but 飙 is more standard. Common compounds: 飙车 (street racing), 飙升 (to soar/surge). Colloquially, 飙 can mean to blurt out: 飙脏话 (to blurt out profanity).

Components

radical

风 fēng

wind

Wraps the lower-left corner - the wind radical, the indexing component. 飚 belongs to the wind family with 飘 to float on the wind, 飕 to whistle, 飓 hurricane. Here the wind is doing the work: blowing across the inner flames to whip up the fierce gust the character names.

semantic

焱 yàn

flames; blaze (three fires stacked)

Inside the wind-wrap sits 焱 - three 火 fires stacked, picturing a roaring blaze. Whipped by 风 around it, the original 飚 named a fierce wind fanning flames into a wildfire. From that came 'whirlwind, gust' and the modern 飚车 'to floor it' - driving so fast it's like a wind-driven blaze.