熬 (āo): to boil, to simmer, to cook on a slow fire, to extract by heating, to decoct, to endure
熬 (āo) is a Chinese character meaning “to boil.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 敖 (phonetic) and 灬 (semantic). It ranks #2569 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 熬 fire. Its radical form 火 (fire) appears in many related characters such as 火 (huǒ, fire), 灯 (dēng, lamp, light), 烟 (yān, smoke).
Definitions
- to boil
- to simmer
- to cook on a slow fire
- to extract by heating
- to decoct
- to endure
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 熬 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 熬
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 煎熬 | jiān áo | to suffer |
| 熬出头 | áo chū tóu | to break clear of all the troubles and hardships |
| 熬头儿 | áo tou r | (coll.) the reward of one's efforts |
| 熬更守夜 | áo gēng shǒu yè | to stay up through the night (idiom) |
| 多年媳妇熬成婆 | duō nián xí fù áo chéng pó | see 媳婦熬成婆|媳妇熬成婆[xi2 fu4 ao4 cheng2 po2] |
| 难熬 | nán áo | (of pain or hardship) hard to bear |
| 媳妇熬成婆 | xí fù áo chéng pó | lit. even a submissive daughter-in-law will one day become a domineering mother-in-law (idiom) |
| 苦熬 | kǔ áo | to endure (years of suffering) |
| 熬药 | áo yào | to decoct medicinal herbs |
| 熬稃 | āo fū | puffed grain |
| 熬膏 | áo gāo | to simmer to a paste |
| 熬煎 | áo jiān | suffering |
熬 appears in 13 compound words: 62 as the first character, 23 as the last, and 15 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 熬 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
厨师用猛熬爆炒,锅里的菜肴香气四溢。
chú shī yòng měng āo bào chǎo , guō lǐ de cài 肴 xiāng qì sì yì .
The chef stir-fried the ingredients over high heat, filling the kitchen with the aroma of the cooking dish.
久坐熬夜“血便半年”未就医 女子大肠癌中晚期已...
jiǔ zuò āo yè xiě biàn bàn nián wèi jiù yī nǚ zǐ dà cháng ái zhōng wǎn qī yǐ . . .
After six months of bloody stools caused by prolonged sitting and late nights without seeking medical attention, a woman has been diagnosed with mid-to-late-stage colon cancer...
...,是人生的重启键 睡前听书,治愈焦虑。总熬夜、睡不好?《我们为什么要睡觉》告诉你:...
. . . , shì rén shēng de chóng qǐ jiàn shuì qián tīng shū , zhì yù jiāo lǜ . zǒng āo yè , shuì bù hǎo ? wǒ men wéi shén má yāo shuì jué gào sù nǐ : . . .
...is life’s reset button. Listen to audiobooks before bed to ease anxiety. Do you stay up late and struggle to sleep? *Why We Sleep* explains:...
“熬夜+宵夜”,双重伤身可不行
āo yè xiāo yè , shuāng chóng shāng shēn kě bù háng
"Staying up late and eating late-night snacks"—this double whammy is bad for your health
霍尔木兹海峡,熬干了中产清明五一
huò ěr mù zī hǎi xiá , āo gān le zhōng chǎn qīng míng wǔ yī
The Strait of Hormuz: Draining the Middle Class During Qingming and May Day
少女第一次做ae一般多少秒正常?熬夜剪辑会扰乱褪黑素和激素节律吗
shǎo nǚ dì yī cì zuò a e yī bān duō shǎo miǎo zhèng cháng ? āo yè jiǎn jí huì rǎo luàn 褪 hēi sù hé jī sù jié lǜ ma
How many seconds is normal for a girl to do AE for the first time? Does staying up late to edit disrupt melatonin and hormone rhythms?
晚上熬夜到这么晚不好。
Wǎnshang áoyè dào zhème wǎn bù hǎo.
It's not a good idea to stay up at night for so long.
妈妈总是告诉我晚上不要熬夜太晚。
Māma zǒngshì gàosu wǒ wǎnshang bù yào áoyè tài wǎn.
Mother always tells me not to sit up late at night.
他经常在晚上熬夜。
Tā jīngcháng zài wǎnshang áoyè.
He often stays up late at night.
我哥哥经常熬夜看小说。
Wǒ gēge jīngcháng áoyè kàn xiǎoshuō.
My brother would often stay up all night reading novels.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 熬 (āo) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 熬 and 快?
How many strokes does 熬 have?
What is the radical of 熬?
What are the components of 熬?
What are common words containing 熬?
What characters sound the same as 熬 (āo)?
Is 熬 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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