易燃 (yì rán) — inflammable

Definition

易燃 (yìrán) is a two-character modifier meaning 'easily inflammable' — it describes substances like gases or liquids that catch fire readily. It functions as an attribute before nouns (易燃物品) and is the standard term on safety labels.

verb
inflammable
Easily confused

Examples

  • 易燃。
    Zhè ge jiā yóu zhàn fù jìn bù néng yǒu yì rán de dōng xī.
    There cannot be inflammable things near this gas station.
  • 易燃。
    Wǒ men yào xiǎo xīn yì rán de qì tǐ.
    We need to be careful with inflammable gases.
  • 易燃，。
    Zhè zhǒng yè tǐ fēi cháng yì rán, bù néng kào jìn huǒ.
    This liquid is very inflammable and cannot be near fire.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

易yìeasy
燃ránburn

易 means easy, and 燃 means burn, so it catches fire easily.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The early form of 易 was a drawing of a filled container, not a chameleon. It showed something full that could be given out.

Open 易 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
火火huǒfire
Sound part声符shēngfú
然
然rán燃rán
Same sound today

燃 adds 火 (fire) to 然 to write “burn”; 然 supplied the sound, and 火 was added to make the fire meaning clear.

Open 燃 →
Appears in
Safety & Danger

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