煙 - SMOKE Rising in the West

Readings & Meanings:

エン

けむ（る）

けむり

けむ（い）

smoke

Common Usage:

禁煙

煙

煙たい

Examples:

ここは禁煙です。

焚き火の煙が目にしみる。

彼女はいつも彼のことを煙たがっている。

Translations:

Thank you for not smoking.

The smoke from the fire stings my eyes.

She always avoids him.

Radical:

火 is on the left. Easy enough; where there's smoke...

The character on the right is a bit more confusing.

While we can plainly see 土 and 西 in there today, the origin of this element goes back much, much further, at least according to one source (Kanji Networks). The Shell and Bone pictograph shows smoke rising from an incense burner, as you can see in this representation (pulled from http://www.kanjinetworks.com/knetwork/KAN.html#KAN44)


It later simplified down to elements that were more recognizable.

References:

http://www.kanjinetworks.com/indices/radindex.html
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/node/kanji/e.htm