Chinese symbol for “flame”
炎
yán
flame; inflammation; -itis
The closest CC-CEDICT match for flame is 炎 (yán), defined as: flame; inflammation; -itis.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Other Chinese words for “flame”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 火光 | huǒ guāng | flame; blaze |
| 火苗 | huǒ miáo | flame |
| 焰 | yàn | flame |
| 明火 | míng huǒ | flame; open fire |
| 火焰 | huǒ yàn | blaze; flame |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 炎.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 肺炎 | fèi yán | pneumonia; inflammation of the lungs |
| 炎热 (炎熱) | yán rè | blistering hot; sizzling hot (weather) |
| 肝炎 | gān yán | hepatitis |
| 发炎 (發炎) | fā yán | to become inflamed; inflammation |
| 炎症 | yán zhèng | inflammation |
| 关节炎 (關節炎) | guān jié yán | arthritis |
See also: Japanese symbol for “flame”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.