烟碱
yān​jiǎn

nicotine

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)

碱 jiǎn alkaline Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 石 represents the meaning and 咸 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鹼.

Components

石
石 Meaning component
shí stone
咸
咸 Sound component
xián all

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

菸 yān, yū, yù to fade Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 於 represents the sound.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

於
於 Sound component
yū, wū in

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangqeːn
qas

說文解字

鬱也。从艸於聲。一曰𣨙也。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

鹼 jiǎn alkaline Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 鹵 represents the meaning and 僉 represents the sound.

Components

鹵
鹵 Meaning component
salt
僉
僉 Sound component
together

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkreːmʔ
skʰlam

說文解字

鹵也。从鹽省，僉聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)