着火
zháo huǒ · HSK 4
to burn
🔥 着 = touch/contact + 火 = fire → contact fire = ignite
着 (zháo) here means to come into contact with or be affected by something; pair it with 火 (huǒ, fire) and you get the literal sense of catching fire. Also used figuratively for getting furious.
着 — sheep 羊 (top) + eye 目 (bottom)
着 originated as a variant of 著, which depicted plants emerging visibly above ground (grass radical 艹 over 者). Over time 着 split off to carry meanings like 'attach,' 'wear,' or a verb suffix marking ongoing action (zhe), while 著 kept senses like 'manifest' or 'author.'
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.