大烟 (dà yān) — opium (colloquial) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Colloquial word for opium, used in everyday speech rather than in formal or medical writing. Pairs mainly with 吸 ('smoke').

noun

opium (colloquial)

大烟。
Tā yǐ qián xī guò dà yān.
He used to smoke opium.
大烟。
Xī dà yān duì shēn tǐ fēi cháng yǒu hài.
Smoking opium is very harmful to health.
大烟。
Hěn duō rén yīn wèi dà yān shī qù le suǒ yǒu.
Many people lost everything because of opium.

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.

The idea of 大 adds a sense of bulk or intensity to 烟, giving the colloquial name for opium.

Characters in this word

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

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.

火垔煙

Meaning part形符xíngfú

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.

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