炬 (jù): torch

炬 (jù) is a Chinese character meaning “torch.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 火 (semantic) and 巨 (phonetic). It ranks #2912 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 炬 fire. Its radical form 火 (fire) appears in many related characters such as 火 (huǒ, fire), 灯 (dēng, lamp, light), 烟 (yān, smoke).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 火 fire9 strokesFrequency #2912火 semantic巨 phonetic

Definitions

  1. torch

Etymology & Origin

炬

pictophoneticfire

Decomposition: ⿰火巨 (layout: left-right)

Components:火semantic巨phonetic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Practice writing 炬 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
火炬huǒ jù(flaming) torch
付之一炬fù zhī yī jùto put to the torch (idiom)
火炬手huǒ jù shǒu(lit. and fig.) torchbearer
氧乙炔炬yǎng yǐ quē jùan oxyacetylene torch
氧乙炔焊炬yǎng yǐ quē hàn jùoxyacetylene torch
蜡炬là jù(literary) candle
6
Total compounds
0
As first character
83
As last character
17
As middle character

炬 appears in 6 compound words: 0 as the first character, 83 as the last, and 17 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 炬 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

火huǒ
0.64122,854 co-occurrences
递dì
0.5141,176 co-occurrences
付fù
0.4772,310 co-occurrences
燃rán
0.4481,230 co-occurrences
手shǒu
0.4024,470 co-occurrences
棒bàng
0.397756 co-occurrences
熄xī
0.39578 co-occurrences
烛zhú
0.37848 co-occurrences
宝bǎo
0.370552 co-occurrences
传chuán
0.3651,320 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

付之一炬fùzhīyījùHSK 7+

synonym of 付諸一炬 /付诸一炬 (fùzhūyījù, “to be burnt down”)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

火炬传递奥运精神。

Huǒjù chuándì Àoyùn jīngshén.

The torch carries the Olympic spirit.

The Beijing NewsMar 2026

爱心火炬照亮生命之路 ——振国集团四十华诞暨彩丝...

ài xīn huǒ jù zhào liàng shēng mìng zhī lù — — zhèn guó jí tuán sì shí huá dàn jì cǎi sī . . .

Character Family

火 Radical Family — Characters sharing the fire radical

煲bāo焙bèi灿càn炒chǎo炊chuī灯dēng炖dùn烦fán耿gěng焊hàn

Related Characters

火huǒ灯dēng烟yān烦fán炼liàn烧shāo燃rán灰huī灾zāi烂làn

Homophones — Characters pronounced jù

拒jù距jù居jū局jú举jǔ巨jù具jù剧jù

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 炬 (jù) mean in Chinese?
炬 (jù) primarily means "torch." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2912 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 炬 and 柜?
炬 (jù) and 柜 (guì) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 火 vs 木 (same 巨 component).
How many strokes does 炬 have?
炬 is written with 9 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 炬?
The radical associated with 炬 is 火 (fire). This radical appears in many characters related to fire.
What are the components of 炬?
炬 is composed of: 火 (semantic), 巨 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰火巨 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 炬?
Common words with 炬 include: 火炬 (huǒ jù, "(flaming) torch"); 付之一炬 (fù zhī yī jù, "to put to the torch (idiom)"); 火炬手 (huǒ jù shǒu, "(lit. and fig.) torchbearer"); 氧乙炔炬 (yǎng yǐ quē jù, "an oxyacetylene torch"); 氧乙炔焊炬 (yǎng yǐ quē hàn jù, "oxyacetylene torch"). There are over 6 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 炬 (jù)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jù: 拒 (to resist), 距 (distance), 居 (to reside), 局 (narrow), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 炬 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 炬 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.