Basic Meaning and Usage
The character 热 (rè) primarily means "hot" or "warm." It is commonly used to describe temperature, whether of the weather, objects, or body temperature. For example, you can say 今天很热 (It's very hot today) to talk about the weather.
Common Collocations and Contexts
热 is often paired with 水 (water) to mean "hot water" (热水). It can also describe physical sensations like fever (发热). When used as a verb, it means "to warm up" or "heat." For example, 请把水热一下 means "Please warm up the water."
Usage Notes
热 can describe both environmental heat (天气热) and physical heat (身体热). When referring to fever, 热 implies elevated body temperature. It is a versatile word appearing in daily conversation, weather reports, and health contexts.
Common Collocations
- 热水 (rè shuǐ): hot water, used when requesting or describing heated water
- 发热 (fā rè): to have a fever, used in medical or health contexts
- 很热 (hěn rè): very hot, common phrase for weather or objects
Avoid confusing 热 with 烫 (tàng), which means "scalding hot" and implies a higher temperature that can cause burns.