烙 (lào): to brand, to iron, to bake (in a pan)

烙 (lào) is a Chinese character meaning “to brand.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 火 (semantic) and 各 (phonetic). It ranks #3074 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 烙 fire. Its radical form 火 (fire) appears in many related characters such as 火 (huǒ, fire), 烟 (yān, smoke), 烧 (shāo, to burn, to cook).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to brand
  2. to iron
  3. to bake (in a pan)

Etymology & Origin

烙

pictophoneticfire

Decomposition: ⿰火各 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
烙印nounlào yìnto brand (cattle etc)
烙饼nounlào bǐngpancake
烙铁nounlào tieflatiron
电烙铁diàn lào tieelectric iron
炮烙nounpáo luòform of torture said to have been used by King Zhou of Shang 商紂王|商纣王 in which the victim was forc...
5
Total compounds
60
As first character
20
As last character
20
As middle character

烙 appears in 5 compound words: 60 as the first character, 20 as the last, and 20 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

另一种吃法更家常:烙馍卷羊肉。

lìng yī zhǒng chī fǎ gèng jiā cháng : lào 馍 juǎn yáng ròu .

Another, more home-style way to enjoy it is to wrap lamb in a flatbread.

中国新闻网·生活Jul 2026

“头伏饺子二伏面,三伏烙饼摊鸡蛋”,北方称之为“贴伏膘”。

tóu fú jiǎo zǐ èr fú miàn , sān fú lào bǐng tān jī dàn , běi fāng chēng zhī wéi tiē fú 膘 .

“Dumplings during the first heat wave, noodles during the second, and pancakes with eggs during the third”—in northern China, this is known as “gaining weight during the heat waves.”

中国新闻网·文化Jul 2026

资料图:书法家为品尝过烙饼摊鸡蛋的居民撰写“过三伏”的福字。

zī liào tú : shū fǎ jiā wéi pǐn cháng guò lào bǐng tān jī dàn de jū mín zhuàn xiě guò sān fú de fú zì .

File photo: A calligrapher writes the character “Fu” (meaning “good fortune”) with the phrase “Getting Through the Three Dog Days” for residents who have enjoyed a fried egg on a flatbread.

中国新闻网·体育Jun 2026

即便球星们依然张扬热烈,即便球迷依然热血沸腾,但工业化足球的烙印终究挥之不去。

jí biàn qiú xīng men yī rán zhāng yáng rè liè , jí biàn qiú mí yī rán rè xiě fèi téng , dàn gōng yè huà zú qiú de lào yìn zhōng jiū huī zhī bù qù .

Even though the star players remain flamboyant and passionate, and even though the fans are still fired up, the mark of industrialized soccer ultimately lingers.

中国新闻网·文化May 2026

那一刻,家族的记忆与国家的印记深深烙在他心里。

nà yī kè , jiā zú de jì yì yǔ guó jiā de yìn jì shēn shēn lào zài tā xīn lǐ .

At that moment, the memories of his family and the legacy of his country were deeply etched in his heart.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 火 (fire) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced lào

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 烙 (lào) mean in Chinese?
烙 (lào) primarily means "to brand." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3074 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 烙 and 路?
烙 (lào) and 路 (lù) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 火 vs 足 (same 各 component).
How many strokes does 烙 have?
烙 is written with 10 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 烙?
The radical associated with 烙 is 火 (fire). This radical appears in many characters related to fire.
What are the components of 烙?
烙 is composed of: 火 (semantic), 各 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰火各 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 烙?
Common words with 烙 include: 烙印 (lào yìn, "to brand (cattle etc)"); 烙饼 (lào bǐng, "pancake"); 烙铁 (lào tie, "flatiron"); 电烙铁 (diàn lào tie, "electric iron"); 炮烙 (páo luò, "form of torture said to have been used by King Zhou of Shang 商紂王|商纣王 in which the victim was forc..."). There are over 5 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 烙 (lào)?
Several characters share the pronunciation lào: 酪 (cheese). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 烙 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 烙 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 烙 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

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.