火花
huǒ huā · HSK 7
spark
✨🔥 火 huǒ (fire) + 花 huā (flower) = fire-flower = a spark
Compound of 火 (fire) and 花 (flower). A flying bit of fire is a spark or sparkle; the same fire + flower logic also gives 烟花 (smoke-flower = fireworks).
火 — pictograph of flames rising
火 is a pictograph showing flames rising upward from a fire, with the central stroke as the main blaze and the side strokes as sparks. The ancient oracle bone form looked even more clearly like a burning flame. It still means 'fire' today and serves as a common radical in characters related to heat, burning, or cooking.
花 — grass radical 艹 + 化 (change/phonetic)
花 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The top 艹 (grass) signals the plant meaning, while 化 ('change, transform') gives the sound and hints at how buds change into blossoms. It originally meant 'flower' or 'blossom' and later extended to 'flowery, patterned, to spend.'