釜

A heavy, cast-metal cooking vessel used for boiling water or grains. Semantic extensions include shorthand for famine or extreme poverty (empty cauldron) and communal or military provisioning (large cauldrons). Used metaphorically to denote urgency or intensity, specifically regarding the resolution of a crisis by addressing its root cause (e.g., removing firewood from under the cauldron).

Contrast with 鼎 (//dǐng//): While both are metal vessels often translated as "cauldron," 鼎 is associated with ritual, ceremony, and state authority, whereas 釜 is utilitarian and domestic. The use of 釜 generally grounds a passage in the mundane or practical.

Tang-period reading //bhiǒ//. Semantic variant U+9B34.

The vessel is characterized by a rounded bottom designed to nestle directly into embers, distinguishing it from the legged structure of many //dǐng// vessels.