瘾 (yǐn): addiction

Meanings

1 addiction
2 craving

Characters

瘾

yǐn

addiction; craving

Examples

他对手机游戏上了瘾。

Tā duìshǒu jī yóuxì shàng le yǐn.

He got addicted to mobile games.

抽烟容易上瘾。

Chōuyān róngyì shàngyǐn.

Smoking is easy to get addicted to.

Tips

usage

The most common collocations are 上瘾 (to become addicted) and 过瘾 (to satisfy a craving / to have a great time). 上瘾 can be serious or casual; 过瘾 is usually positive and colloquial.

memory

The radical 疒 (sickness) plus 隐 (hidden) — an addiction is a hidden sickness.

Components

radical

疒 nè

sickness; ailment (radical)

Outer sickness radical (depicts a person leaning on a sickbed) — the indexing radical. Marks 瘾 as a pathological condition. The same radical anchors disease vocabulary: 病 (illness), 痛 (pain), 疯 (mad), 痒 (itch), 疲 (tired). Frames addiction as illness, not vice.

phonetic

隐 yǐn

to hide; concealed (here phonetic)

Inner 隐 supplies the sound (yǐn — exact match) and a poetic semantic hint: addictions are hidden cravings, ailments concealed inside the person. Sickness + hidden = an illness lurking out of sight — neat compositional logic for both pieces.