The word 烟草 (yāncǎo), meaning "tobacco", is formed through a direct and descriptive combination of two meaningful characters. The first character, 烟 (yān), means "smoke", immediately evoking the primary method of using the plant by burning and inhaling its fumes. The second character, 草 (cǎo), means "grass" or "herb", plainly identifying its botanical nature as a leafy plant. Together, they create a compound that literally translates to "smoke-grass", a perfectly logical and visual name for the plant whose dried leaves are smoked.