客厅里的杯垫有什么用

What is the difference between “烫” and “热” in Chinese?

This little clip about coasters turns on one character: 烫 (tàng). Pour hot water in a cup and the bottom gets 很烫 — hot enough to scald the table, hence the pad underneath. Chinese splits “hot” in two: 热 (rè) is ordinary heat — weather, soup, a warm day — while 烫 is the heat that hurts to touch. Waiters set down dishes with a warning: 小心烫 — “careful, it’s scalding.”

烫 works as a verb too: 烫到 is to get scalded, and 烫头发 — “to heat one’s hair” — means getting a perm. The clip’s own noun is a tidy compound: 杯垫, “cup-pad” (coaster), built on 垫 (diàn, pad), which also gives you 鼠标垫 (mouse pad) and 坐垫 (seat cushion).