熏
xūn · HSK 7
variant of 熏[xun1]
💨🔥 Four fire dots 灬 sit at the bottom; smoke rises off the flame to cure and perfume
熏 (xūn) means to smoke-cure, fumigate, or perfume with fragrance. The bottom element 灬 is the fire radical (four dots standing in for flames), and the rest sits above it like a bundle being smoked over the heat. Same root sense extends to to influence or educate gradually.
熏 — smoke rising through a chimney; pictographic
熏 originally depicted smoke rising from a fire through a vent or chimney, with the bottom 灬 representing flames and the upper portion showing the rising smoke trapped above. It came to mean 'to smoke, fumigate, or perfume,' and by extension 'to influence gradually,' as smoke slowly permeates whatever it touches.