HSK 5 · Verbs

着火 zháohuǒ “to catch fire” in Chinese

Traditional 著火

What 着火 means

  1. to catch fire

How to say 着火

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale着zháo2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale火huǒ3rd tone, dipping

着火 in a sentence

  1. 着火了！

    Zháohuǒ le!

    Fire!

    Sentence #1958702 from Tatoeba

  2. 木头容易着火。

    Mùtou róngyì zháohuǒ.

    Wood catches fire easily.

    Sentence #614591 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 着火的时候我妈妈恰好在那。

    Zháohuǒ de shíhou wǒ māma qiàhǎo zài nà.

    My mum happened to be there when the fire broke out.

    Sentence #8514598 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 着火 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 着 (zhe) with each of its parts in a different colour
着zháoto touch
  • 羊sheep · yáng
  • 目eye · mù
The character 火 (huǒ) with each of its parts in a different colour
火huǒfire
  • 丷eight form of 八 · bā
  • 人person · rén

Memory aidDrawn from rising flames.

How to write 着火

着 11 strokes · 火 4 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

着火 (zháohuǒ) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 着火 (zháohuǒ). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 着火

Words with 着

着zhe · particle for an ongoing action or state (-ing)着急zháojí · to worry接着jiēzhe · next随着suízhe · along with着凉zháoliáng · to catch a cold着想zhuóxiǎng · to consider (the needs of)着重zhuózhòng · to emphasise着手zhuóshǒu · to set about沉着chénzhuó · calm and collected执着zhízhuó · persistent

Words with 火

火车huǒchē · train火车站huǒchēzhàn · train station火huǒ · fire火柴huǒchái · match (for lighting fire)恼火nǎohuǒ · annoyed火箭huǒjiàn · rocket火药huǒyào · gunpowder火焰huǒyàn · flame涮火锅shuànhuǒguō · to eat hotpot

More words: Common Verbs

粘贴zhāntiē · to paste展开zhǎnkāi · to unfold掌握zhǎngwò · to master招待zhāodài · to hold a reception召开zhàokāi · to convene (a conference or meeting)针对zhēnduì · to target振动zhèndòng · to vibrate争取zhēngqǔ · to fight for

FAQs

着火 (zháohuǒ) means “to catch fire”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it zháohuǒ: zháo with a 2nd tone, then huǒ with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 着火 is written 著火. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zhaohuo with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 着火 from the suggestions. Typing zhaohuo into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
着火 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.