烧 脑

shāo nǎodictionary entry

(neologism, attested by 2016) (coll.) (of a situation, problem or piece of content) intensely demanding on the brain / brain-bending

Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-593e0057342b737c. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

燒腦 烧脑 [shao1 nao3] /(neologism, attested by 2016) (coll.) (of a situation, problem or piece of content) intensely demanding on the brain; brain-bending/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 燒腦

烧
shāo
to burn / to set on fire / to heat (over a fire) / to boil (water, tea etc) / to braise / to cook / to prepare food / to run a fever / fever / (coll.) to become full of oneself / to get carried away
脑
nǎo
brain / mind / head / essence

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.