焦 (jiāo) — burnt, scorched, charred (resultative complement); worried, anxious
Definition
Two distinct senses: a resultative complement meaning 'scorched/burnt' (e.g. 炒焦, 烧焦) and a literary 'anxious, worried' — much stronger and more formal than 急, close to 焦虑.
adjective
burntscorchedcharred (resultative complement)worriedanxious
Examples
- 焦，。Cài chǎo jiāo le, bù néng chī le.The dish is burnt; we can't eat it.
- 。Tā duì jié guǒ gǎn dào fēi cháng jiāo lǜ.He feels very anxious about the result.
- 焦。Liǎn bèi tài yáng shài jiāo le.The face was scorched by the sun.
Origin
Sound + meaning六书liùshū
形声xíngshēngMost 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
隹隹zhuībird
Sound part声符shēngfú
小
小xiǎo焦jiāo
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.
The 焦 glyph first paired 隹 (bird) with 小 as a sound part. The 小 part later changed into a fire shape, and the character was then used for scorching.
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