烟花
yān huā · HSK 6
fireworks
🎆 smoke + flower = fireworks lighting up the sky
烟 means smoke, 花 means flower. Fireworks are literally smoke-flowers — bursts that bloom and scatter like petals made of sparks. The secondary meaning (courtesan) comes from the old phrase 烟花巷, the smoke-and-flower lane where pleasure quarters stood.
烟 — fire radical 火 + 因 (cause, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 火 ('fire') gives the meaning, while 因 supplies the sound 'yīn', close to 'yān'. Originally referring to the smoke rising from a fire, 烟 later extended to mist, vapor, and eventually tobacco and cigarettes in modern usage.
花 — grass radical 艹 + 化 (change/phonetic)
花 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The top 艹 (grass) signals the plant meaning, while 化 ('change, transform') gives the sound and hints at how buds change into blossoms. It originally meant 'flower' or 'blossom' and later extended to 'flowery, patterned, to spend.'