Chinese symbol for “vapour”
烟
yān
Traditional: 煙
cigarette or pipe tobacco; measure word: 根 (gēn); smoke; mist
The closest CC-CEDICT match for vapour is 烟 (yān), defined as: cigarette or pipe tobacco; measure word: 根 (gēn); smoke; mist; vapour; 缕 (lǚ).
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Traditional forms
Related words
Other words that share a character with 烟.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 烟草 (煙草) | yān cǎo | tobacco |
| 香烟 (香煙) | xiāng yān | smoke from incense (burned as an offering to one's ancestors); (fig.) continuation of family line; cigarette (CL:支 (zhī),条 (tiáo),根 (gēn),包 |
| 抽烟 (抽煙) | chōu yān | variant of 抽烟 (chōu yān) |
| 吸烟 (吸煙) | xī yān | to smoke |
See also: Japanese symbol for “vapour”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.