菸 (yān) — (bound form) tobacco; cigarette (variant of 烟)
Definition
菸 (yān) is a bound/obsolete form of 烟, used mainly in set compounds like 菸草 and 菸民. In modern Chinese, prefer 烟.
bound form
tobaccocigarette (variant of 烟)
Easily confused
- 於wūlook-alike(surname) Wū
- 烟yānsound-alikecigarette or pipe tobacco
- 淹yānsound-aliketo flood; to submerge
- 阉yānsound-aliketo castrate; to neuter (an animal)
- 燕yānsound-alike(bound form) Yan, an ancient state; also used in place names such as Yanjing and Yanshan
- 焉yānsound-alike(literary interrogative pronoun) where; how
Examples
- 菸。Tā měi tiān xī yì bāo yān cǎo.He smokes a pack of tobacco every day.
- 菸。yān Jiǔ de shuì shōu zhàn le hěn dà bǐ lì.Taxes on tobacco and alcohol account for a large proportion.
- 菸。Xǔ duō yān mín dōu xiǎng jiè yān.Many smokers want to quit.
Origin
Sound + meaning六书liùshū
形声xíngshēngMost 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
艸艸cǎograss; plant
Sound part声符shēngfú
於
於wū菸yū
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.
菸 pairs 艸 (grass; plant) with 於, which supplies the sound.
Appears in
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