烟熏
yān​xūn

smoke

烟 yān smoke Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 因 represents the sound. Simplified form of 煙.

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
因
因 Sound component
yīn cause

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'en[q]ˤi[n] vapor, smoke

說文解字

《說文》：“煙，火气也。从火，垔聲。烟，或从因；，古文；，籀文从宀。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

熏 xūn smoke Simplified

Depicts fragrant herbs inside a bag (東). The 灬 (fire) component was later added to emphasize that fragrant herbs were usually smoked with fire.

Components

東
東 Iconic component
dōng east

Depicts a bag.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 東 than it was in ancient scripts.
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts fragrant herbs inside a bag.

灬
灬 Meaning component
biāo, huǒ fire

灬 is a component form of 火.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

薰醺獯曛勳燻

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

燻

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxjunqʰu[n] smoke (v.); vapor, odor

說文解字

《說文》：“熏，火煙上出也。从屮，从黑。屮黑，熏黑也。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

煙 yān smoke Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 垔 represents the sound.

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
垔
垔 Sound component
yīn dam up, block, restrain

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'en[q]ˤi[n] smoke

說文解字

《說文》：“煙，火气也。从火，垔聲。烟，或从因；，古文；，籀文从宀。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

燻 xūn smoke Traditional

Smoke 熏 from a fire 火; 熏 also provides the pronunciation

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
熏
熏 SoundMeaning component
xūn smoke

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangqʰun

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang