焦黑 (jiāo hēi) — burned black, charred

Definition

焦黑 is a state verb describing something that has been burned or scorched until it turns black — a result state, not the act of burning. Usually used as a predicate or complement (e.g., 烤得焦黑), not a transitive action verb.

verb
burned blackcharred

Examples

  • 焦黑。
    Miàn bāo kǎo dé jiāo hēi le.
    The bread is baked to a char.
  • ，焦黑。
    Huǒ zāi hòu, zhěng dòng lóu de wài qiáng dōu jiāo hēi le.
    After the fire, the entire building's exterior walls were charred.
  • ，焦黑。
    Tā yòng huǒ kǎo mù tou, zhí dào biǎo miàn jiāo hēi.
    He roasted the wood with fire until the surface was charred.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

焦jiāoburnt
黑hēiblack

焦 contributes burnt and 黑 contributes black, together describing a charred black color.

Characters in this word

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
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.

Open 焦 →

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

The shape of 黑 seems to come from drawing a head marked with dots, usually read as facial tattoos.

Open 黑 →

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