(yān) — HSK 4 Recognition Character: Meaning, Radical & Stroke Order

yān smoke, soot; opium; tobacco, cigarettes 10 strokes · Radical (fire) · HSK 4 recognition character (认读字)
👁 Recognition only: the official HSK 4 syllabus asks you to recognize 烟 when reading — handwriting it is not required (that applies to the 150 writing characters). The stroke animation below is optional but helps memory.

Pronunciation & meaning

Pronounced yān.

Stroke Order & Practice

Click Animate to see the correct stroke order, then Practice to trace it yourself.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
烟 — 10 strokes, numbered in writing order. 笔顺图(数字为下笔顺序)。

Decomposition

breaks down into 2 components arranged as Left + Right. Recognizing the components makes the character easier to remember and write.

=
left fire
right cause

Radical

The radical of is — meaning fire. Radicals are the indexing components used in Chinese dictionaries; they often hint at a character's broad meaning category.

Other HSK 4 characters that share this radical: .

How the character is built

is a phono-semantic compound. The semantic component (fire) carries the meaning, while the phonetic component originally indicated the sound.

HSK 4 Words Containing 烟

yān cigarette; smoke
吸烟有害健康。
Xī yān yǒuhài jiànkāng.
Smoking is harmful to health.

Seen in the Real Exams / 真题例句

appears in 18 questions across the 19 mock & official HSK 4 exams on this site. Real exam sentences using it:

先生,对不起,我们宾馆有规定,这里禁止抽
From Mock Exam 09 →
前面有专门的抽室,往前走就能看到,就在楼梯右边,请。
From Mock Exam 09 →
女的为什么不抽了?
From Mock Exam 12 →

Tasks Featuring 烟 / 相关任务

Words containing appear in these official HSK 4 task scenarios — study the character in context:

📚 谈论就医情况、健康生活
Health & Medical ·

FAQ

What does 烟 mean in Chinese?

烟 (yān) means smoke, soot; opium; tobacco, cigarettes. It is one of the 441 characters HSK 4 requires you to recognize when reading (认读字).

How many strokes does 烟 have?

烟 is written in 10 strokes. Use the practice tool above to see the correct stroke order and trace it yourself.

What is the radical of 烟?

The radical of 烟 is 火 (fire). Other HSK 4 characters with the same radical include 烦, 烤.

What is the pinyin for 烟?

烟 is pronounced yān.

What HSK 4 words use 烟?

In our HSK 4 vocabulary, 烟 appears in 1 word, including 烟 (yān). See the full list above.

All Characters yán →