(yān) - smoke, cigarette in Mandarin
yānTraditional: 煙
Translation
smoke, cigarette
Word origin
A phono-semantic character: the 火 fire radical carries the sense and 因 (yīn) supplies the sound. The traditional form 煙 uses 垔 as its phonetic instead.
- Origin
- phono-semantic
- Root
- 火 (fire) + 因 (yīn, phonetic)
Stroke order
烟
Examples
。
The room is full of smoke.
。
He smokes a packet of cigarettes a day.
？
Have you got a cigarette?
。
A lot of smoke came out of the kitchen.
。
You cannot smoke here.
烟 (yān) does two jobs with one character. It is the smoke that rises off a fire, and it is the cigarette in somebody's hand. Context sorts them out without any trouble: smoke fills a room, cigarettes come in packets.
The verb that goes with the cigarette sense is 抽 (chōu, to draw) or the more clinical 吸 (xī, to inhale). 抽烟 is to smoke, and the polite sign on the wall reads 请勿吸烟. Measure words split by sense too: 一支烟 is one cigarette, 一包烟 a packet.
The trap is the verb. English says drink for spirits and smoke for tobacco, and learners transfer the wrong one, producing 喝烟. Nobody drinks smoke in Chinese. It is always 抽 or 吸, never 喝.
Where this fits
Used in
Grammar articles
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烟: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "烟" (smoke, cigarette): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 53.