HSK 3 · Places

西 xī “West” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 西 means

  1. West

How to say 西

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale西xī1st tone, high and level

西 in a sentence

  1. 太阳在西边落下。

    Tàiyáng zài xībian luòxià.

    The sun sets in the west.

    Sentence #2595793 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 飞机向西飞了。

    Fēijī xiàng xī fēi le.

    The plane flew west.

    Sentence #5715118 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 他们俩一个往东，一个往西。

    Tāmen liǎ yí ge wǎng dōng, yí ge wǎng xī.

    One of them went east and the other went west.

    Sentence #3537620 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 西 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 西 (xī) with each of its parts in a different colour
西xīwest
  • 兀weak · wù
  • 囗enclosure · wéi

Memory aidDrawn from a bird's nest. It was borrowed early on for “west”.

How to write 西

西 6 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

西 (xī) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 西 (xī). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 西

Words with 西

东西dōngxi · thing西瓜xīguā · watermelon西方xīfāng · the West西南xīnán · southwest西北xīběi · northwest西红柿xīhóngshì · tomato东张西望dōngzhāngxīwàng · to look around in all directions

More words: Places & Directions

楼lóu · story南nán · South世界shìjiè · world图书馆túshūguǎn · library洗手间xǐshǒujiān · toilet银行yínháng · bank中间zhōngjiān · middle中文Zhōngwén · Chinese language

FAQs

西 (xī) means “West”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it xī: xī with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 西 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 西 from the suggestions. Typing xi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
西 is an HSK 3 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.