Where 西 comes from
A bird settling into its nest, representing sunset; compare 東
How to write 西 (xī, “west”)
西 (xī), an HSK 1 character, means “west”, “the West” and “Spanish”. It is a picture-like character. On its own it is an HSK 3 word; it also forms 东西 (“thing”), 西北 (“northwest”) and 西南 (“southwest”). Japanese reads it sei, “west”, as a JLPT N5 kanji.
- Pinyin
- xī
- Strokes
- 6
- HSK
- 1
- Radical
- 西 (“west”)
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
As an overlapping character it splits into 兀 (“rising to a height”), strokes 1 and 4–5; 囗 (“enclosure”), strokes 2–3 and 6, written with the strokes of the parts interleaved.
- Horizontal ㇐top leftrightwards
- Vertical ㇑leftdownwards
- Horizontal-turn ㇕leftrightwards → downwards
- Left-falling stroke ㇒topdownwards
- Vertical-curve-hook ㇟topdownwards → rightwards
- Horizontal ㇐bottom leftrightwards
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 6 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Pinyin and meaning
| Pinyin | Meanings | Traditional | In words |
|---|---|---|---|
| xī first tone | west; the West; Spanish | — | 西北 西南 西方 西瓜 |
- HSK 2025 syllabus
- level 1
- 2021 standard
- level 1
- HSK 2.0
- in a level 1 word
- Words with it
- 136 in CC-CEDICT
Words with 西
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 西 | xī | west HSK 3 |
| 东西 東西 | dōngxi | thing; stuff HSK 1 |
| 西北 | xīběi | northwest HSK 3 |
| 西南 | xīnán | southwest HSK 3 |
| 西方 | xīfāng | the West; the Occident HSK 3 |
| 西瓜 | xīguā | watermelon HSK 3 |
| 西部 | xībù | western part HSK 4 |
| 西红柿 西紅柿 | xīhóngshì | tomato HSK 4 |
| 西装 西裝 | xīzhuāng | suit; Western-style clothes HSK 5 |
| 西餐 | xīcān | Western-style food HSK 5 |
HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).
Practice sheet
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Keep going
HSK 1, in list order: