灶 (zào) is a Chinese character meaning “cooking stove”. It is written from 火 (fire) and 土 (earth; soil), side by side, and takes 7 strokes.
Build the character for “stove”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
火 + 土
Left–right structure
Structure from: 现代字形拆分（⿰火土），已对照 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验
Memory aid
Fire (火) kept beside packed earth (土) — that is a stove: a fire with an earthen wall around it.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 灶台zào táistovetop; cooktop; the top surface of a kitchen stove灶 = zào
- 炉灶lú zàokitchen stove; cooking range灶 = zào
Go deeper
All readings
stove
cooking stove; kitchen range; hearth
用砖石等砌成、生火做饭的设备。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 灶台zào táistovetop; cooktop; the top surface of a kitchen stove灶 = zào
- 炉灶lú zàokitchen stove; cooking range灶 = zào
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 灶 mean?
灶 (zào) means cooking stove; kitchen range; hearth.
How do you pronounce 灶?
It is pronounced zào.
What parts is 灶 made of?
火 (fire) and 土 (earth; soil), side by side. The recorded source is: 现代字形拆分（⿰火土），已对照 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 灶 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 灶?
火. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 灶?
Common ones are 灶台 and 炉灶. The reading of 灶 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.