烟熏火燎
yān​xūn​huǒ​liǎo

smoke-filled

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)

火 huǒ fire

Pictograph of fire.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (29 of 121 verified)

炮烟炸灯烧爆燃赤煤烂炼炉焰煌炭焚烛炒灿燥烤耿灶烁焕熄灼烫炯炕熔煽炳烘炽炫炊荧炬烙烬炙煜炖焙烽灸燎焊煊熠熵烯烷炀燔熨烨燧烩煨炜煲焓烃烊炔焖焱熘炝炷熳煅煸焐焯炅煳燹炱炻煺爨燠烀爝燙爌燻燈烴煥煙焗炤焌炆燴齌燬烕燜焢燭煬燼烜畑熾尞爐燉煆熜煉燒爛熒熰燦

Iconic (14)

光票灭秋烦灰炎灾尉叟堇炏災煩

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

伙狄钬爍

Simplified (1)

灵

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartxwaX[qʷʰ]ˤəjʔ fire

說文解字

《說文》：“火，燬也。南方之行，炎而上，象形。”

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)

燎 liáo, liǎo, liào to burn

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

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
尞
尞 SoundMeaning component
liào, liáo burnt offering

尞 also serves as a meaning component.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangrew
rewʔ
rews
Unicodeliɛ̀u
liɛ̌u

說文解字

《說文》：“燎，放火也。从火，尞聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
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