漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People
惜: pity, be sparing of
Also: frugal, stingy, regret
JLPT N111 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met
忄 carries the meaning · 昔 gives the sound
11 strokes
Small seal · Qin Today
Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Three readings, and the words that use each
セキseki · on'yomi · in compounds
- 惜敗せきはいregrettable defeat
- 痛惜つうせきdeep regret
おしいoshii · kun'yomi · on its own
- 惜しいおしいregrettable; disappointing; unfortunate
- 名残惜しいなごりおしいreluctant (to part)
- 惜しみ無くおしみなくwithout stint; freely
おしむoshimu · kun'yomi
- 惜しむおしむto spare; to grudge; to be sparing (with)
Words: JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.
成り立ち
Where it comes from
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Feel the beat! When the heart "stands up" on the left side of a kanji, it brings the intense energy of emotion and thought.”
繋がり
Connections
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
昔
Also built on once upon a time (昔)
The 昔 family reads シャク (shaku); 惜 is read セキ.
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by side惜 pity · 忄
vs借 borrow · 亻In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · xī
Same form: 惜 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 惜 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 惜 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin xī most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.
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