人烟 (rén yān) — signs of human habitation; inhabited area (often used negatively)

Definition

Literally 'human smoke' — a literary noun referring to signs of human habitation (smoke from hearths). Almost always appears in negative or scarcity contexts like 人烟稀少 or 没有人烟.

noun
signs of human habitationinhabited area (often used negatively)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 人烟，。
    Zhè ge dì fāng méi yǒu rén yān, fēi cháng huāng liáng.
    This place has no signs of habitation; it's very desolate.
  • ，人烟。
    Cūn zi suī xiǎo, dàn rén yān bù shǎo.
    Although the village is small, it is quite populated.
  • 人烟，。
    Guò qù zhè lǐ rén yān xī shǎo, xiàn zài rè nao duō le.
    In the past this place was sparsely populated; now it's much livelier.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

人rénhuman
烟yānsmoke

人 and 烟 together evoke people and cooking smoke, hence signs of habitation.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →

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 →

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