This is the 851st most frequent Japanese word.
焼
"焼" means "burn," "roast," "grill," or "bake."
'焼き物' is a compound noun where '焼き' comes from '焼く', meaning 'to fire' or 'to bake', and '-物' denotes objects. Together, it refers to ceramics, which are crafted through the firing process.
陶芸家は美しい焼き物を作ります。
The potter makes beautiful ceramics.
'焼酎' (Shōchū) is a traditional Japanese distilled beverage. Here, '焼' signifies the process of heating during distillation as part of its production.
私は焼酎を初めて飲みました。
I drank shōchū for the first time.
In this sentence, '焼いて' is the gerund form of the verb '焼く', which means 'to grill' or 'to fry'. It is used to describe the action of cooking food over heat.