Where 洗 comes from
water
- Meaning part
- 氵 (“water”)
- Sound part
- 先 (“beforehand”)
How to write 洗 (xǐ, “to wash”)
洗 (xǐ), an HSK 2 character, means “to wash”, “to develop” and “to shuffle”. It is HSK 2 in the 2025 syllabus, up from level 1 in the 2021 standard. It pairs a meaning part, 氵 (“water”), with a sound part, 先 (“beforehand”). On its own it is an HSK 2 word; it also forms 洗手间 (“toilet”), 洗衣机 (“washing machine”) and 洗澡 (“to bathe”). Japanese reads it sen, “wash”, as a JLPT N3 kanji.
- Pinyin
- xǐ
- Strokes
- 9
- HSK
- 2
- Radical
- 氵 (“water”)
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
As a left-right character it splits into 氵 (“water”, the radical), strokes 1–3; 先 (“beforehand”), strokes 4–9, written the left part first.
- Dot ㇔top leftdown and right
- Dot ㇔leftdown and right
- Rising stroke ㇀bottom leftupwards
- Left-falling stroke ㇒topdown and right → down and left
- Horizontal ㇐toprightwards
- Vertical ㇑topdownwards
- Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
- Left-falling stroke ㇒centerdownwards → down and left
- Vertical-curve-hook ㇟centerdown and right → upwards
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| xǐ third tone | to wash; to bathe; to develop (photographs); to shuffle (cards etc); to erase (a recording) | — | 洗手间 洗衣机 洗澡 清洗 |
- HSK 2025 syllabus
- level 2
- 2021 standard
- level 1
- HSK 2.0
- in a level 2 word
- Words with it
- 128 in CC-CEDICT
Words with 洗
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 洗 | xǐ | to wash; to bathe HSK 2 |
| 洗手间 洗手間 | xǐshǒujiān | toilet; lavatory HSK 2 |
| 洗衣机 洗衣機 | xǐyījī | washing machine; washer HSK 3 |
| 洗澡 | xǐzǎo | to bathe; to take a shower HSK 3 |
| 清洗 | qīngxǐ | to wash; to rinse HSK 6 |
| 洗漱 | xǐshù | to wash the face and rinse the mouth HSK 6 |
| 洗礼 洗禮 | xǐlǐ | baptism HSK 7-9 |
| 冲洗 沖洗 | chōngxǐ | to rinse; to wash HSK 7-9 |
| 洗涤 洗滌 | xǐdí | to rinse; to wash HSK 7-9 |
| 手洗 | shǒuxǐ | to hand-wash |
HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).
Practice sheet
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Keep going
HSK 2, in list order: