Why is 'no smoking' 禁煙, whereas 'to smoke' is 吸う?


Why is 'no smoking' [禁煙]{きんえん} (lit. 'smoke is prohibited'), whereas 'to
smoke' is [吸]{す}う (lit. 'to inhale (smoke)')? In English (and some other
languages), the verb 'to smoke' is related to the noun 'smoke', but since it's
not the case in Japanese, it is strange to see 煙 pop up. Is it a _calque_?




The Sino-Japanese word (kango) that directly corresponds to 禁煙 is 喫煙【きつえん】 (喫
= "take and enjoy"), which is a suru-verb that can be found in stiff
situations including statistical or medical contexts. (We say 禁煙 but not 禁喫煙
for [this reason](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/53782/5010).) On the
other hand, (たばこを)吸う is a wago which is commonly used in casual day-to-day
situations. English speakers happen to use the same word ("to smoke") in
almost all contexts, but in Japanese, 喫煙 and (たばこを)吸う are very different in
register. (English speakers distinguish [sweat and
perspire](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/33686/5010), for example.)

When someone wants to prohibit smoking, it's possible to use some negative
imperative expression of 吸う (e.g., ここでたばこを吸ってはいけません), but it would sound like
as if you were saying this to a child. 禁煙 is almost always preferred because
it's short, authoritative and serious.

