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How to write 息 (xī, “breath”)

息 (xī), an HSK 1 character, means “breath”, “to cease” and “to rest”. It is a character whose parts combine into its meaning. Among the HSK words it appears in 休息 (“rest”), 信息 (“information”) and 消息 (“news”). Japanese reads it soku, “breath”, as a JLPT N3 kanji.

Pinyin
xī
Strokes
10
HSK
1
Radical
心 (“heart”)

Stroke by stroke

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10

As a top-bottom character it splits into 自 (“self”), strokes 1–6; 心 (“heart”, the radical), strokes 7–10, written the top first.

  1. Left-falling stroke ㇒topdown and right → down and left
  2. Vertical ㇑top leftdownwards
  3. Horizontal-turn ㇕top leftrightwards → downwards
  4. Horizontal ㇐toprightwards
  5. Horizontal ㇐centerrightwards
  6. Horizontal ㇐centerrightwards
  7. Dot ㇔leftdownwards
  8. Flat slanted hook ㇃bottom leftdown and right → rightwards → up and left
  9. Dot ㇔centerdown and right
  10. Dot ㇔rightdown and right

Names of the strokes

Japanese and Chinese

Japanese and Chinese draw all 10 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.

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Japanese · KanjiVG · 10 strokes
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Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 10 strokes

Where 息 comes from

To breathe (life, 心) through one's nose 自; 心 also provides the pronunciation

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Pinyin and meaning

PinyinMeaningsTraditionalIn words
xī
first tone		(bound form) breath; (bound form) to cease; to stop; (bound form) to rest; (bound form) news; (bound form) interest (on money)—信息 利息 作息 气息
HSK 2025 syllabus
level 1
2021 standard
level 1
HSK 2.0
in a level 2 word
Words with it
112 in CC-CEDICT

Words with 息

WordPinyinMeaning
休息xiūxirest; to rest HSK 1
信息xìnxīinformation; news HSK 4
消息xiāoxi(piece of) news; information HSK 4
利息lìxīinterest (on a loan) HSK 6
作息zuòxīto work and rest HSK 7-9
出息chūxifuture prospects; profit HSK 7-9
气息 氣息qìxībreath; smell HSK 7-9
平息píngxīto subside; to die down HSK 7-9
息息相关 息息相關xīxī-xiāngguānclosely bound up (idiom); intimately related HSK 7-9
经久不息 經久不息jīngjiǔ-bùxī(idiom) prolonged (applause, cheering etc) HSK 7-9

HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).

Practice sheet

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Keep going

HSK 1, in list order: