漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People
休: rest, day off
Also: retire, sleep
亻 carries the meaning · 木 is drawn in
Oracle bone · Shang Bronze · Zhou Small seal · Qin Today
Oracle bone, bronze and small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Three readings, and the words that use each
キュウkyuu · on'yomi · in compounds
- 休日きゅうじつholiday
- 週休しゅうきゅうweekly holiday
- 休講きゅうこうa cancelled lecture
- 休暇きゅうかvacation
やすむyasumu · kun'yomi · on its own
- 休みやすみrest, absence, break, recess
- 休むやすむrest [v.i.]
やすめるyasumeru · kun'yomi
- 休めるやすめるput to rest [v.t.]
Also read やすまる, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Ideogrammic compound (會意)人 man + 木 tree
A man leaning against a tree, resting.
Source: Wiktionary, 休 (rev. 91675236), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“A person (亻) leaning against a tree (木) to take a cool, refreshing break from their work.”
Connections
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · xiū
Same form: 休 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 休 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 休 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin xiū most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.