<p>Looks to me like maybe 你抽烟吗 is "Do you smoke in general?" and 你吸烟吗 is "Are you smoking right now?"  But I'm often wrong.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-02T19:19:22.220Z
2017-10-02T19:19:22.220Z
IHeartPoodles
<p><strong>Question</strong>: What is the difference between 抽烟 (chōu yān) and 吸烟 (xī yān) which both pertain to smoking?</p>

<p>I‘ve ordinarily asked people</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>你抽烟吗 (nǐ chōu yān ma = "do you smoke?")</p>
</blockquote>

<p>for which nobody has acted oddly about (at least, in regards to my Chinese), so I assumed it was correct, but maybe</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>你吸烟吗 (nǐ xī yān ma = "do you smoke?")</p>
</blockquote>

<p>is synonymous.</p>

<p>However, I ordinarily see</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>禁止吸烟 （jìn zhǐ xī yān = "smoking is forbidden")</p>
</blockquote>

<p>on No Smoking signs, e.g.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/XZduhm.jpg"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/XZduhm.jpg" alt="禁止吸烟 No smoking"></a></p>

<p>which, up until recently, I thought said</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>禁止抽烟 (jìn zhǐ chōu yān = "smoking is forbidden" [presumably])</p>
</blockquote>

<p>but this is incorrect, and it doesn't seem to be commonly used (possibly even an invalid phrase).</p>

<word-choice><difference><synonyms>
What is the difference between 抽烟 (chōu yān) and 吸烟 (xī yān) which both pertain to smoking?
# What is the difference between 抽烟 (chōu yān) and 吸烟 (xī yān) which both pertain to smoking?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-01-25)

**Question**: What is the difference between 抽烟 (chōu yān) and 吸烟 (xī yān) which both pertain to smoking?

I‘ve ordinarily asked people

> 你抽烟吗 (nǐ chōu yān ma = "do you smoke?")

for which nobody has acted oddly about (at least, in regards to my Chinese), so I assumed it was correct, but maybe

> 你吸烟吗 (nǐ xī yān ma = "do you smoke?")

is synonymous.

However, I ordinarily see

> 禁止吸烟 （jìn zhǐ xī yān = "smoking is forbidden")

on No Smoking signs, e.g.

[![禁止吸烟 No smoking](https://i.sstatic.net/XZduhm.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/XZduhm.jpg)

which, up until recently, I thought said

> 禁止抽烟 (jìn zhǐ chōu yān = "smoking is forbidden" [presumably])

but this is incorrect, and it doesn't seem to be commonly used (possibly even an invalid phrase).

**Tags:** word-choice, difference, synonyms


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-10-02. Score: 0

Looks to me like maybe 你抽烟吗 is "Do you smoke in general?" and 你吸烟吗 is "Are you smoking right now?" But I'm often wrong.


---

