炸 (zhà) is a Chinese character meaning “to explode”. It is written from 火 (fire) and 乍 (suddenly; abruptly (also the sound part in 作, 昨, 炸)), side by side, and takes 9 strokes. It has a second reading, zhá, which turns up in 油炸 — here the two readings are two separate things to learn, not one card with two answers.
Build the character for “to explode”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
火 + 乍
Left–right structure
Structure from: studyhanzi 构形核对（现代字形左右分解，火 4 画 + 乍 5 画 = 9 画，与笔顺数据一致）
Memory aid
Fire (火) on the left, and 乍 — "all of a sudden" — on the right. Fire that goes off all of a sudden: an explosion. 乍 is also the sound part: zhà.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 轰炸hōng zhàto bomb; to bombard炸 = zhà
- 炸药zhà yàoexplosive; dynamite炸 = zhà
- 炸弹zhà dànbomb炸 = zhà
Go deeper
All readings
to explode
to explode; to blow up; to bomb
猛然破裂；用炸弹等爆炸物攻击。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 轰炸hōng zhàto bomb; to bombard炸 = zhà
- 炸药zhà yàoexplosive; dynamite炸 = zhà
- 炸弹zhà dànbomb炸 = zhà
to deep-fry
to deep-fry (food) in hot oil
把食物放进滚开的油里弄熟。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 油炸yóu zháto deep-fry (in oil)炸 = zhá
Sound component
乍 family exact
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 炸 mean?
炸 (zhà) means to explode; to blow up; to bomb.
How do you pronounce 炸?
Its main reading is zhà. It also has a second reading, zhá, which only shows up in certain words such as 油炸 — so the word tells you the reading, not the character on its own.
Why is 炸 sometimes pronounced zhá?
Because it is a multi-reading character: each reading carries a different sense, and the word decides which one applies. In 油炸 it is read zhá.
What parts is 炸 made of?
火 (fire) and 乍 (suddenly; abruptly (also the sound part in 作, 昨, 炸)), side by side. The recorded source is: studyhanzi 构形核对（现代字形左右分解，火 4 画 + 乍 5 画 = 9 画，与笔顺数据一致）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 炸 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 炸?
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 炸?
Common ones are 轰炸 and 炸药. The reading of 炸 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.