炸药
zhà yào · HSK 6
explosive (material)
🧨💥 炸药 = explode + medicine — the chemical whose only job is to go boom
药 usually means medicine or chemical substance. Paired with 炸 (to explode/blast), it names the compound designed purely to detonate on command.
炸 — fire radical 火 + 乍
A semantic-phonetic compound: the fire radical 火 gives the meaning (cooking with hot oil or sudden bursting by heat), while 乍 (zhà) supplies the sound. Originally meant 'to burst' or 'explode'; the cooking sense 'to deep-fry' developed from the idea of food bursting in hot oil.
药 — grass radical 艹 + 约 (yuē, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The grass radical 艹 on top signals a plant or herb, reflecting that early Chinese medicines were largely herbal. The component 约 below provides the sound, hinting at the pronunciation yào. The traditional form is 藥.