灼热
zhuó rè · HSK 7
burning hot
🔥 灼 (scorch, has the 火 fire radical) + 热 (hot) = burning hot
灼 zhuó means to burn or scorch and carries the 火 fire radical on its left. Pair it with 热 rè meaning hot, and you get scorching, burning heat. Used figuratively it can also mean burning with worry.
热 — 执 zhí (phonetic) + 灬 fire radical
热 is a semantic-phonetic compound: the bottom 灬 (a variant of 火 'fire') gives the meaning of heat, while 执 on top supplies the sound. Originally written 熱, it depicted fire below a phonetic element, and the meaning naturally extended from physical heat to 'hot' weather and 'enthusiastic' feelings.