炸 (zhà): to fry, to explode

炸 (zhà) is a Chinese character meaning “to fry, to explode.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 火 (structural) and 乍 (structural). It ranks #976 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 炸 a sudden 乍 flame 火; 乍 also provides the pronunciation. 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 fry, to explode

Etymology & Origin

炸

ideographicA sudden 乍 flame 火; 乍 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰火乍 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 炸

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
爆炸verbbào zhàexplosion6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
炸弹nounzhà dànbomb
炸药nounzhà yàoexplosive
炸掉verbzhà diàoto bomb
轰炸verbhōng zhàto bomb
炸鸡nounzhá jīfried chicken
炸毁verbzhà huǐto blow up
爆炸物nounbào zhà wùexplosive (material)
轰炸机nounhōng zhà jībomber (aircraft)
爆炸性nounbào zhà xìngexplosive
定时炸弹noundìng shí zhà dàntime bomb
炸鱼verbzhá yúdeep-fried fish
炸酱面nounzhá jiàng miànzhajiang mian, thick wheat noodles served with ground pork simmered in salty fermented soybean paste (or other sauce)
核爆炸hé bào zhànuclear explosion
狂轰滥炸phrasekuáng hōng làn zhàto bomb indiscriminately
爆炸力bào zhà lìexplosive force
70
Total compounds
43
As first character
17
As last character
40
As middle character

炸 appears in 70 compound words: 43 as the first character, 17 as the last, and 40 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 炸 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

轰hōng
0.67820,566 co-occurrences
爆bào
0.67067,260 co-occurrences
弹dàn
0.61615,502 co-occurrences
毁huǐ
0.5094,786 co-occurrences
俯fǔ
0.4941,310 co-occurrences
药yào
0.4844,730 co-occurrences
堡bǎo
0.44521 co-occurrences
枚méi
0.4373,154 co-occurrences
薯shǔ
0.429403 co-occurrences
袭xí
0.4282,304 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

定时炸弹dìngshí zhàdànHSK 5+

time bomb

noun
黄色炸药huángsè zhàyàoHSK 5+

trinitrotoluene; TNT (a highly explosive yellow crystalline substance)

noun
狂轰滥炸kuánghōnglànzhàHSK 7+

wanton and indiscriminate bombing

phrase
深水炸弹shēnshuǐ zhàdànHSK 5+

depth charge

noun
重磅炸弹zhòng bàng zhà dànHSK 7+

(fig.) sth that produces shockwaves; bombshell (revelation); blockbuster (product)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这家快餐店的炸鸡外皮酥脆,肉质鲜嫩多汁。

Zhè jiā kuàicān diàn de zhájī wàipí sūcuì, ròuzhì xiānnèn duōzhī.

The fried chicken at this fast food restaurant has a crispy skin and tender, juicy meat.

三立新聞網Feb 2026

台南2高工生想當網紅「炮炸青蛙」網罵翻

tái nán gāo gōng shēng xiǎng 當 網 紅 pào zhà qīng wā 網 罵 fān

Two Tainan High School of Technology Students Spark Outrage Online After Filming 'Frog Explosion' to Become Internet Celebrities

EttodayFeb 2026

無照男改車炸街遭攔 不滿挨罰+扣車飆國罵!妨害公務送...

無 zhào nán gǎi 車 zhà jiē zāo 攔 bù 滿 āi 罰 kòu 車 飆 國 罵 ! fáng hài gōng 務 sòng . . .

Unlicensed driver modifies car for street racing, gets pulled over. Upset over fine and impounded vehicle, he spews profanities! Charged with obstructing official duties...

Orientaldaily MyFeb 2026

1令吉爆竹爆炸导致右眼失明 7年过去少年仍感觉历历在目

lìng jí bào zhú bào zhà dǎo zhì yòu yǎn shī míng nián guò qù shǎo nián réng gǎn jué lì lì zài mù

A 1-ringgit firecracker explosion caused him to lose his right eye. Seven years later, the teenager still remembers it vividly.

StheadlineFeb 2026

...餐優惠!脆辣雞腿飽餐減$10 麥樂雞/麥炸雞/豬柳蛋漢堡餐$29起

. . . cān 優 huì ! cuì là 雞 tuǐ 飽 cān 減 麥 樂 雞 麥 zhà 雞 豬 liǔ dàn 漢 bǎo cān qǐ

... Meal Deals! Crispy Spicy Chicken Thigh Buns $10 off Chicken McNuggets/McFried Chicken/Pork Tenderloin Egg Burgers from $29

百度新闻Feb 2026

闪电评论|春晚机器人“天团”炸场,这股科技潮为何动..

shǎn diàn píng lún chūn wǎn jī qì rén tiān tuán zhà chǎng , zhè gǔ kē jì cháo wéi hé dòng . .

The Spring Festival Gala Robotics Troupe is blowing up the stage, and why this wave of technology is moving...

Tatoeba

爆炸的原因是什么?

Bàozhà de yuányīn shì shénme?

What was the cause of the explosion?

Tatoeba

这个炸弹可以炸死很多人。

Zhège zhàdàn kěyǐ zhàsǐ hěn duō rén.

This bomb can kill many people.

Tatoeba

大炸弹从天而降,夺走了许多人的生命。

Dà zhàdàn cóngtiān'érjiàng, duózǒu le xǔduō rén de shēngmìng.

A big bomb fell, and a great many people lost their lives.

Tatoeba

化学工厂一着火就爆炸了。

Huàxué gōngchǎng yī zháohuǒ jiù bàozhà le.

Once the chemical plant caught fire, it exploded.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhà

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 炸 (zhà) mean in Chinese?
炸 (zhà) primarily means "to fry, to explode." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #976 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 炸 have?
炸 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 炸?
The radical associated with 炸 is 火 (fire). This radical appears in many characters related to fire.
What are the components of 炸?
炸 is composed of: 火 (structural), 乍 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰火乍 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 炸?
Common words with 炸 include: 爆炸 (bào zhà, "explosion"); 炸弹 (zhà dàn, "bomb"); 炸药 (zhà yào, "explosive"); 炸掉 (zhà diào, "to bomb"); 轰炸 (hōng zhà, "to bomb"). There are over 70 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 炸 (zhà)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhà: 扎 (to prick), 诈 (to cheat), 眨 (to blink), 渣 (slag (in mining or smelting)), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 炸 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 炸 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 炸 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.