Chinese Character Wiki
兮

xī

exclamatory particle

Origin unclear. Likely depicts two lines of air (八) blowing through branches (丂), indicating the sound of wind. Possibly similar in origin to 乎.

Components
八 iconic,unknown component

八  Iconic Unknown component

bā

  

eight

Likely depicts two lines of air.

丂 iconic,unknown component

丂  Iconic Unknown component

kǎo

  

axe handle

Likely depicts a tree branch.

Evolution

兮 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
兮 Bronze script Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)

Bronze script

Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)
兮 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
兮 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
兮 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

兮  

xī

exclamatory particle; (particle in old Chinese similar to 啊)

Most common words with 兮
Freq.
Word
Meaning

兮

(particle in old Chinese similar to 啊)

兮兮

(particle used to exaggerate certain adjectives, in particular 神經兮兮|神经兮兮, 髒兮兮|脏兮兮, 可憐兮兮|可怜兮兮, and 慘兮兮|惨兮兮)

脏兮兮

dirty

Component uses

Meaning component in 1 character (1 verified)

羲

Sound component in 1 character (0 verified)

㿽

Iconic component in 1 character (1 verified)

羲

Unknown component in 1 character (1 verified)

市

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*gˤe

hej

xī

(final particle)


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 4.5171% of movies

2234th most common character in movies

2772nd most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

4

Unicode

U+516E

Shuowen

“兮，語所稽也。从丂、八，象气越亏也。”


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