焦
jiāo · HSK 7
burnt
🔥 焦 = 隹 short-tailed bird over 灬 fire radical = bird over flames, scorched and charred
The bottom four dots 灬 are the fire radical (a squashed 火), and 隹 on top is a short-tailed bird. A bird held over fire ends up burnt, hence jiāo meaning scorched or charred; it also works as the surname Jiao.
焦 — bird 隹 over fire 灬
焦 is an associative compound showing a short-tailed bird (隹) above fire (灬), depicting roasting a bird until scorched. The original sense was 'burnt' or 'charred,' which extended to 'scorched, dried out,' and metaphorically to 'anxious, worried' (as in 焦急).