The Chinese characters 黑 meaning is black.

The original seal form depicted a flame (炎) under a smoke vent or window, blackening it with soot. Squaring the window and modifying the flame, produced the modern character: 黑, meaning black.

The Chinese characters 烧 meaning is burn; bake; roast.

烧 probably originated from the firing (火) of earthenware stacked upon a support in a kiln. The original form shows earth piled up high on a pedestal denotes high or great. Combination with the radical: 火 (fire) generates the character: 烧 which stands for the great heat required in baking, roasting or burning.

The Chinese characters 灾 meaning is calamity.

People, plagued by floods and fire (火), once, regarded these unforeseen calamities as divine judgement. The modern simplified character for calamity: 灾, however, sets matters straight by locating fire (火) under roof (宀) – pinning the responsibility onto man himself.

The Chinese characters 灰 meaning is ashes; dust; lime.

Fire 火 in hand stands for ashes or dust: 灰 - the product of fire that can be handled or taken in the hand. 灰 also includes lime (obtained by burning limestone) which, though easily handled, apparently contains fire, generating heat when mixed with water.

The Chinese characters 谈 meaning is chat; talk.

谈, or words (言) beside flame (炎), aptly signifies an informal chat by the fire - idle talk in which much is spoken but little is said. Mischief arising from aimless opening of the mouth and thoughtless wagging of the tongue sparks the old saying: “Much talk brings on trouble; much food brings on indigestion.”

The Chinese characters 炎 meaning is blaze; flame.

The Chinese character for flame (炎) itself was formed from two fires (火), one atop the other. Because of its inflammatory nature, it may well spread like wildfire and the people around it would suffer from the burning heat.

The Chinese characters 火 meaning is fire.

火 is a pictograph of fire, produced by rubbing stones together. A terrifying force of nature, it brings both calamity and comfort to people. Like burning issues that often flare up in life, fire is easy to kindle, but difficult to handle, as the proverb warns: “You can’t use paper to wrap up fire.”

The Chinese characters 洋 meaning is ocean; foreign.

Although 羊 is a phonetic, it also serves to emphasize the meaning of this Chinese character for ocean: 洋. Sheep, being inland animals, graze on land away from the ocean; so water (氵) far away from the sheep (羊) came to mean ocean. By extension, 洋 also means “foreign”, i.e., far away beyond the ocean.

This poem describes the scene that the poet seeks temporary lodging to a poor peasant family in the wind and snow night. This poem language is terse, but can stimulate readers’ imagination. The author of this Chinese poem is Liu Chang Qing (刘长卿) in the Tang Dynasty.

Please appreciate the Flash above. I translate this Chinese poetry as follows:

Meet With Snow and Find Lodging in Furong Mountain
Green mountain is far at dusk,
The couch grass house seems poorer in cold.
Dog barks outside the wooden door,
I find lodging here in the wind and snow night.

逢雪宿芙蓉山主人

日暮苍山远，

天寒白屋贫。

柴门闻犬吠，

风雪夜归人。

The Chinese characters 美 meaning is beautiful; admirable.

This beautifully proportioned Chinese character is shaped from 羊 (sheep) and 大 (big). 大 originally represented a person grown big; 羊 is an animal admired for its peace loving virtue. Ideographically, a mature person who has the mild and gentle disposition of a sheep is regarded as beautiful, admirable: 美.