DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

爐火純青

简炉火纯青 · 繁爐火純青

Mandarin · pinyin lú huǒ chún qīng

(lit.) the stove fire has turned bright green (allusion to Daoist alchemy) (idiom)
(fig.) (of an art, a technique etc) brought to the point of perfection

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

爐: Look up this written character
火: huǒ · fire, flame; burn; anger, rage
純: Look up this written character
青: qīng · blue, green; young; Kangxi radical 174
炉: lú · fireplace, stove, oven, furnace
纯: chún · pure, clean, simple

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

2–3–2–1 · lu2 huo3 chun2 qing1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

爐火純青 · find source passages ↗ · 炉火纯青 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to have reached high perfection or complete mastery

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack