炊烟 (chuīyān) · smoke from a kitchen chimney, cooking smoke

Measure Word

一缕炊烟 lǚ

Meanings

1 smoke from a kitchen chimney
2 cooking smoke

Characters

Literally "cooking smoke" - the smoke of a meal being made

Examples

HSK 5

那间老房子空了多年，再也没有炊烟升起。

Nà jiān lǎo fángzi kōng le duō nián, zàiyě méiyǒu chuīyān shēngqǐ.

That old house has stood empty for years, and no cooking smoke rises from it any more.

HSK 7-9

傍晚，村子里升起了袅袅炊烟。

Bàngwǎn, cūnzi lǐ shēngqǐ le niǎoniǎo chuīyān.

At dusk, cooking smoke curled up over the village.

HSK 7-9

远远望去，山谷中飘着几缕炊烟。

Yuǎnyuǎn wàng qù, shāngǔ zhōng piāo zhe jǐ lǚ chuīyān.

Seen from far off, a few threads of cooking smoke drifted in the valley.

Tips

culture

In writing this is a nostalgia word. Smoke over village roofs at dusk stands for home, supper and a settled life, so 炊烟 turns up constantly in essays, poems and song lyrics about the countryside, and almost never in a plain technical description of smoke.

usage

The smoke is specifically from cooking: 炊 means to cook over a fire, as in 炊具 (cookware) and 野炊 (a cookout). Factory smoke or haze is 烟雾, never this word.