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烟鬼 (yān guǐ) — heavy smoker; opium addict

Definition

烟鬼 literally means 'smoke ghost' — a colloquial, often humorous label for someone who smokes heavily. The 鬼 suffix here means 'addict' (like 酒鬼 'drunkard'), and the term is colloquial, not formal.

noun
heavy smokeropium addict
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • ，烟鬼。
    Tā měi tiān chōu liǎng bāo yān, shì gè lǎo yān guǐ.
    He smokes two packs a day; he's a heavy smoker.
  • 烟鬼，。
    Wǒ yé ye yǐ qián shì gè yān guǐ, hòu lái jiè le yān.
    My grandfather used to be a heavy smoker, but later quit.
  • 烟鬼。
    Zhè ge yān guǐ bǎ jiā lǐ lòng dé quán shì yān wèi.
    This heavy smoker filled the whole house with smoke.

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yānsmoke
鬼guǐghost

烟 (smoke) and 鬼 (ghost) together suggest a person dominated by smoking.

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 →

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

鬼 originally drew a kneeling figure with an ugly face, perhaps a mask; the small lower right dot is a later added tail.

Open 鬼 →
Appears in
Alcohol & Tobacco

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