Definition
人烟 literally means 'human smoke', referring to smoke from cooking fires as a sign of human habitation. It is used in literary or formal contexts to describe whether a place is inhabited or populated, often in the negative (没有人烟) or with the adjective 稀少 (sparse).
n.
signs of human habitationinhabited area (often used negatively)
Examples
- 人烟，。Zhège dìfang méiyǒu rén yān, fēicháng huāngliáng.This place has no signs of habitation; it's very desolate.
- ，人烟。Cūnzi suī xiǎo, dàn rén yān bù shǎo.Although the village is small, it is quite populated.
- 人烟，。Guòqù zhèlǐ rén yān xīshǎo, xiànzài rènào duō le.In the past this place was sparsely populated; now it's much livelier.
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