上瘾
shàng yǐn · HSK 7
to become addicted
🎰 上 (on) + 瘾 (craving/addiction) = to switch a craving 'on' — get hooked
瘾 carries the 疒 sickness radical, so an addiction reads as a craving-illness; 上 means to get onto or switch on. Together: to switch the craving on and become addicted.
上 — horizontal line above a baseline
上 is an indicative character (指事): a short stroke placed above a longer reference line shows the concept of 'above' or 'up'. The earliest oracle-bone forms used two horizontal lines for this; the modern shape added a vertical stroke for clarity. The core meaning of 'upper, above, to ascend' has stayed stable for millennia.
瘾 — sickness radical 疒 + 隐 (yǐn, hidden)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The 疒 radical marks illness or affliction, while 隐 'hidden' supplies the sound yǐn and hints at something concealed inside. Together they describe a hidden sickness — an addiction or craving that grips a person from within.