烟草 (yān cǎo) — tobacco | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

tobacco

烟草。
Zhè zhǒng yān cǎo de chǎn liàng hěn gāo.
This type of tobacco yields very high harvests.
烟草。
Tā zhèng zài jiè diào yān cǎo.
He is quitting tobacco.
烟草。
yān cǎo Shì hěn duō guó jiā de zhòng yào jīng jì zuò wù.
Tobacco is an important cash crop in many countries.

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yānsmoke/tobacco

烟 means smoke or tobacco, and 草 means plant, so 烟草 is the tobacco plant.

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.

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.

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

艹早草

Meaning part形符xíngfú

艹Written in full as艸cǎograss; plant

Sound part声符shēngfú

早

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.

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