How to write 休 (xiū, “to rest”)

休 (xiū), an HSK 1 character, means “to rest”, “to stop doing sth” and “to cease”. It is a character whose parts combine into its meaning. Among the HSK words it appears in 休息 (“rest”), 休假 (“to go on vacation”) and 休闲 (“leisure”). Japanese reads it kyuu, “rest”, as a JLPT N5 kanji.

Pinyin: xiū
Strokes: 6
HSK: 1
Radical: 亻 (“person”)

Stroke by stroke

As a left-right character it splits into 亻 (“person”, the radical), strokes 1–2; 木 (“tree”), strokes 3–6, written the left part first.

Left-falling stroke ㇒top leftdown and left
Vertical ㇑leftdownwards
Horizontal ㇐centerrightwards
Vertical ㇑topdownwards
Left-falling stroke ㇒centerdown and left
Right-falling stroke ㇏centerdown and right

Names of the strokes

Japanese and Chinese

Japanese and Chinese draw all 6 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.

Japanese · KanjiVG · 6 strokes

Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 6 strokes

Where 休 comes from

A person 亻 leaning against a tree 木

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Pinyin and meaning

Pinyin	Meanings	Traditional	In words
xiū first tone	to rest; to stop doing sth for a period of time; to cease; (imperative) don't	—	休息休假休闲退休

HSK 2025 syllabus: level 1
2021 standard: level 1
HSK 2.0: in a level 2 word
Words with it: 59 in CC-CEDICT

Words with 休

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
休息	xiūxi	rest; to rest HSK 1
休假	xiūjià	to go on vacation; to have a holiday HSK 3
休闲休閒	xiūxián	leisure; relaxation HSK 5
退休	tuìxiū	to retire; to go into retirement HSK 5
休想	xiūxiǎng	don't think (that); don't imagine (that) HSK 7-9
休养休養	xiūyǎng	to recuperate; to recover HSK 7-9
休克	xiūkè	(medicine) (loanword) shock; to go into shock HSK 7-9
休眠	xiūmián	(biology) dormant; dormant HSK 7-9
罢休罷休	bàxiū	to give up; to abandon (a goal etc) HSK 7-9
不休	bùxiū	endlessly; ceaselessly

HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).

Practice sheet

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Keep going

HSK 1, in list order: