漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements
西: west, Spain
Oracle bone · Shang Bronze · Western Zhou Today
Oracle bone and bronze: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Three readings, and the words that use each
セイsei · on'yomi · in compounds
- 西部せいぶwestern part
- 西洋せいようthe West
- 西暦せいれきChristian Era
サイsai · on'yomi
- 関西かんさいKansai
- 東西とうざいeast and west
にしnishi · kun'yomi · on its own
- 西にしwest
Also read ス, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
The oracle-bone forms of 西 fall into two types: open-topped and closed-topped. The open-topped type is found only in periods I–II, especially in the Bin and Chu groups; later scripts inherit the closed-topped type.
Source: Wiktionary, 西 (rev. 93774941), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Spread the canopy! This radical represents a protective layer or a lid that wraps over the top of a character.”
Connections
Also read ス
12 kanji share this on'yomiEasy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · xī
Same form: 西 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 西 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 西 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.