烟草业 (yān cǎo yè) — tobacco industry

Definition

noun
tobacco industry

Examples

  • 烟草业。
    Zhèng fǔ yīng gāi yán gé kòng zhì yān cǎo yè de fā zhǎn.
    The government should strictly control the development of the tobacco industry.
  • 烟草业。
    yān cǎo yè Gěi guó jiā dài lái le dà liàng shuì shōu.
    The tobacco industry brings in a large amount of tax revenue for the country.
  • 烟草业。
    Hěn duō rén hū yù jiā qiáng yān cǎo yè de jiān guǎn.
    Many people call for stricter regulation of the tobacco industry.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

烟草tobacco
烟yānsmoke草cǎograss
偏正Modifier + head
业yèindustry

“烟草” names the tobacco plant, and “业” denotes the industry.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 煙; 烟 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 烟 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (烟) it is 煙; in others it is 菸.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
火火huǒfire
Sound part声符shēngfú
垔
垔yīn煙yān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

This story is about the traditional form 煙, not the simplified 烟. It pairs 火, fire, with 垔, which gives the sound.

Open 烟 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
艹Written in full as艸cǎograss; plant
Sound part声符shēngfú
早
早zǎo草cǎo
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

草 pairs 艹 (grass; plant) with 早, which gives the sound. The form originally referred to another word and was later used for the grass sense.

Open 草 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 業; 业 is its simplified writing.

  • 丵丵zhuóchisel
  • 大大dàperson; big

The traditional 業 is explained as a picture of a beam from which bells and chimes hang, or as a person lifting that beam. The simplified 业 is a shorthand, not the original shape.

Open 业 →

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