Chinese word

燃烧

Pronunciation

Pinyinrán shāo

Meaning

  • verbburn

Example

木头在火里燃烧。mù tou zài huǒ lǐ rán shāo

The wood is burning in the fire.

Illustration for 燃烧 (burn)

More examples

火花掉在草地上，草很快就燃烧起来。huǒ huā diào zài cǎo dì shàng cǎo hěn kuài jiù rán shāo qǐ lái

A spark fell on the grass, and the grass quickly caught fire.

Core concept

Heat and light move through material while the material is steadily used up, whether the process starts by itself or someone causes it.

Common phrases

  • 燃烧起来rán shāo qǐ lái

    catch fire

  • 慢慢燃烧màn màn rán shāo

    burn slowly

Similar words

烧shāo: Causing a material to burn with fire and become damaged or destroyed.
着火zháo huǒ: A material starts burning after it catches fire.
点燃diǎn rán: Causing a material to catch fire and begin burning.
烧掉shāo diào: Burning a material away until it is gone or destroyed.

Definition in Chinese

表示物体在火焰或高温作用下发生发热、发光并被持续消耗的过程或动作，可指自燃或人为点燃的行为。biǎo shì wù tǐ zài huǒ yàn huò gāo wēn zuò yòng xià fā shēng fà rè fā guāng bìng bèi chí xù xiāo hào de guò chéng huò dòng zuò kě zhǐ zì rán huò rén wéi diǎn rán de xíng wéi

Word origin

燃烧 (ránshāo, "burn") combines 燃 (rán, "burn") with 烧 (shāo, "burn"), using two fire-related verbs to focus on the process of combustion.

Usage tips

  • Descriptions of an ongoing process often omit an agent, while a separate causative construction shows that someone caused the material to burn.

Other meanings

  • set fire toverb
  • burningnoun

Opposites

  • 熄灭xī miègo outverb
  • 扑灭pū mièput outverb

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