烹 (pēng): to boil, to brew (tea), to cook by briefly stir-frying and then mixing in sauce, (old) to boil to death (judicial punishment in ancient times)

烹 (pēng) is a Chinese character meaning “to boil.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亨 (phonetic) and 灬 (semantic). It ranks #2918 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

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

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to boil
  2. to brew (tea)
  3. to cook by briefly stir-frying and then mixing in sauce
  4. (old) to boil to death (judicial punishment in ancient times)

Etymology & Origin

烹

pictophoneticfire

Decomposition: ⿱亨灬 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
烹饪verbpēng rèncooking
烹调verbpēng tiáoto cook
烹制pēng zhìto cook
烹饪法nounpēng rèn fǎcuisine
治大国若烹小鲜zhì dà guó ruò pēng xiǎo xiānruling a large nation is like cooking a small delicacy (idiom)
烹调术pēng tiáo shùcookery
狡兔死,走狗烹jiǎo tù sǐ , zǒu gǒu pēngsee 兔死狗烹
兔死狗烹phrasetù sǐ gǒu pēng(lit.) when the rabbit is dead, the hunting dogs are cooked (idiom)
烹茶verbpēng cháto brew tea
烹煮verbpēng zhǔto cook
10
Total compounds
70
As first character
20
As last character
10
As middle character

烹 appears in 10 compound words: 70 as the first character, 20 as the last, and 10 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 烹 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

饪rèn
0.8883,870 co-occurrences
煮zhǔ
0.6361,538 co-occurrences
肴yáo
0.44658 co-occurrences
擅shàn
0.437293 co-occurrences
菜cài
0.411446 co-occurrences
厨chú
0.38156 co-occurrences
烘hōng
0.38040 co-occurrences
炖dùn
0.37212 co-occurrences
锅guō
0.37052 co-occurrences
炒chǎo
0.36460 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

兔死狗烹tùsǐgǒupēngHSK 7+

to get rid of somebody once they have served their purpose

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

消防员迅速赶到,扑灭了熊熊大烹。

xiāo fáng yuán xùn sù gǎn dào , pū miè le xióng xióng dà pēng .

Firefighters arrived quickly and extinguished the raging blaze.

少数派Aug 2026

空间趋势:从封闭烹饪 → 社交化无边界厨房 开放式厨房越来越流行了。

kōng jiān qū shì : cóng fēng bì pēng rèn shè jiāo huà wú biān jiè chú fáng kāi fàng shì chú fáng yuè lái yuè liú háng le .

Trends in Kitchen Design: From Closed-Off Cooking to Social, Open-Concept Kitchens. Open-concept kitchens are becoming increasingly popular.

中国新闻网·生活Aug 2026

日常烹饪蔬菜,尽量搭配多种色彩,变换做法,提升孩子的接受度。

rì cháng pēng rèn shū cài , jǐn liàng dā pèi duō zhǒng sè cǎi , biàn huàn zuò fǎ , tí shēng hái zǐ de jiē shòu dù .

When cooking vegetables for everyday meals, try to include a variety of colors and experiment with different preparation methods to make them more appealing to children.

爱范儿Aug 2026

它们不仅能烹饪美味的晚餐,还能照顾老人、辅导孩子,甚至在主人遇到危险时挺身而出。

tā men bù jǐn néng pēng rèn měi wèi de wǎn cān , hái néng zhào gù lǎo rén , fǔ dǎo hái zǐ , shèn zhì zài zhǔ rén yù dào wēi xiǎn shí tǐng shēn ér chū .

Not only can they cook delicious dinners, but they can also take care of the elderly, tutor children, and even step in to protect their owners when they’re in danger.

SmzdmApr 2026

纯素汤制作指南:食材搭配与烹饪技巧解析

chún sù tāng zhì zuò zhǐ nán : shí cái dā pèi yǔ pēng rèn jì qiǎo jiě xī

A Guide to Making Vegan Soups: An Analysis of Ingredient Pairings and Cooking Techniques

三立新聞網Apr 2026

微波竟比炒的更健康?医揭最NG烹调方式

wēi bō jìng bǐ chǎo de gēng jiàn kāng ? yī jiē zuì N G pēng diào fāng shì

Is Microwaving Actually Healthier Than Stir-Frying? Doctors Reveal the Worst Cooking Methods

Tatoeba

烹饪结束后请清洁炉灶和烤箱。

Pēngrèn jiéshù hòu qǐng qīngjié lúzào hé kǎoxiāng.

Clean the stove and oven after cooking.

Tatoeba

这些苹果宜于烹饪。

Zhèxiē píngguǒ yíyú pēngrèn.

These apples are good cookers.

Tatoeba

她打算去烹饪学校上几堂课。

Tā dǎsuàn qù pēngrèn xuéxiào shàng jǐ táng kè.

She's thinking of taking a couple of courses at a cooking school.

Tatoeba

印度是一个烹饪文化丰富的地区。

Yìndù shì yī gè pēngrèn wénhuà fēngfù de dìqū.

India is a region rich in culinary culture.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 灬 (fire) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced pēng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 烹 (pēng) mean in Chinese?
烹 (pēng) primarily means "to boil." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2918 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 烹 and 老?
烹 (pēng) and 老 (lǎo) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 烹 (death) vs 老 (birth).
How many strokes does 烹 have?
烹 is written with 11 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 烹?
The radical associated with 烹 is 火 (fire). This radical appears in many characters related to fire.
What are the components of 烹?
烹 is composed of: 亨 (phonetic), 灬 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱亨灬 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 烹?
Common words with 烹 include: 烹饪 (pēng rèn, "cooking"); 烹调 (pēng tiáo, "to cook"); 烹制 (pēng zhì, "to cook"); 烹饪法 (pēng rèn fǎ, "cuisine"); 治大国若烹小鲜 (zhì dà guó ruò pēng xiǎo xiān, "ruling a large nation is like cooking a small delicacy (idiom)"). There are over 10 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 烹 (pēng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation pēng: 朋 (friend), 碰 (to touch, to bump), 棚 (shed), 捧 (to hold or offer with both hands), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 烹 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 烹 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 烹 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.