Radical 火

9 strokes

煉

fire 火 (181) + select (713a) = smelt 炼

The fire had to be fed with carefully selected wood so that it could be used to smelt the iron. / It took two dwarves to lift the cauldron of lentil soup for the workers at the ironworks.

Compare this with 东 (“east”, Character 319). the difference is the small horizontal line at the beginning of the third stroke.

The traditional forms of “east” and “select” are also very similar. the traditional form of “east” (see the entry for Character 319) can be thought of as the “sun” rising behind a “tree”. the traditional form of 713a can be seen in the following two entries — here the “sun” looks more like “windowpane” (671b).