2. This character is first seen in the small seal script in the Shuowen (说文).
3. The original meaning is to break a hemp stalk in the middle.
4. Later, it was extended to mean hot air rising upwards.
5. The word "steam" is composed of the word "艹" and "烝".
6. The character "艹" (草) is used as the form, and "烝" is the sound.
7. The character "艹" has the meaning of small firewood, and it can also be extended to refer to hemp rods, and in the regular script, the character "艹" is broken, so the character "蒸" has the original meaning of breaking the hemp rods in the middle. The original meaning of the word "steam" is to break the hemp pole from the middle.
8. Because the word "steam" has the derivation of hot air rising upwards, there are phrases about the word "steam" in modern Chinese, such as transpiration and evaporation.