CS Knowledge Base

西 U+897F, 西 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-897F ← 襾 [U+897E] CJK Unified Ideographs 覀 → [U+8980]

⻄ U+2EC4, ⻄ CJK RADICAL WEST TWO ← ⻃ [U+2EC3] CJK Radicals Supplement ⻅ → [U+2EC5]

Stroke order

Stroke order

西 (Kangxi radical 146, 襾+0, 6 strokes, Cangjie input 一金田 (MCW), four-corner 1060₀, composition ⿱一𠁤)

• 哂, 㛉, 𡶼, 廼, 徆, 恓, 拪, 洒, 𤞏, 迺, 䧈, 𢬣, 晒, 栖, 毢, 𤈇, 牺, 𤥒, 𦚵, 𠒓, 𥙘, 硒, 䄽, 𬭄, 粞, 絤(𬘟), 𦕩, 舾, 𬠂, 𧧍, 跴, 𨠴, 𫘊, 𫙘
• 𪠧, 𨚹, 𤿢, 𪀹, 酉, 𡧳, 茜, 䇴, 𤶈, 𪎢, 氥, 𰀾, 閪

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1128, character 10
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 34763
• Dae Jaweon: page 1595, character 19
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2805, character 2
• Unihan data for U+897F

The oracle-bone forms of 西 (OC *sˤən) 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.

The open-topped form has been interpreted as a bird's nest, possibly related to 栖 (OC *sˤəj) (“to perch; to roost”). The later closed-topped form may be related to 囟 (OC *sənh): in the Zhouyuan oracle-bone inscriptions, 囟 (xìn) is used for 西 (xī).

simp. and trad.		西
alternative forms		㢴 卤 㐁 𠧜 𠧪

The word is traditionally reconstructed to have a /*s/-initial in Old Chinese, e.g. /*sɯːl/ in Zhengzhang (2003). However, recent scholarship has suggested that the Old Chinese initial should instead be reconstructed as /*s-nˤ/, one of the reasons being 西 appears to be the phonetic in 迺 (nǎi), the archaic graphic variant of 乃 (OC *nɯːʔ). The new reconstruction, /*s-nˤər/ in Baxter and Sagart (2014), also accounts for how 西 can be the phonetic in 哂 (shěn, “to smile”). For more information, see Sagart (2004), Baxter and Sagart (2014) and Nohara (2018).

In light of the new construction with the initial consonant cluster /*s-nˤ/, the possibilities of the etymology of 西, aside from being cognate with 棲／栖 (qī, “to roost; to rest”) (B-S OC /*s-nˤər/), include:

• Related to Tibetan ནེར་བ (ner ba, “to sink; to fall gradually”) (Unger, 1990).
• Related to Chepang नेलःसा (nelʔ‑, “to go down; to sink”), which may be the same etymon as the Written Tibetan word above (Schuessler, 2007).
• Related to the root 尼 (nǐ, “to stop”) (OC /*nˤərʔ/ for intransitive form, /*nˤərʔ-s/ for transitive form in Baxter and Sagart (2014)).
• Related to Tibetan མནལ (mnal, “sleep”) and Burmese နား (na:, “to rest; to stop for a while”) (Hill, 2019).
• An Austroasiatic nominal n-infix derivative from the root "go down", as in Old Mon cnis (“ghat”) < Old Mon cis (“to go down”) , with Proto-Austroasiatic *tsn- > Proto-Sinitic *sn-. If true, then this etymon literally means "the place where one goes down to" > Mon "ghat" > OC "nest, west" and its base form is 濟 (OC *ʔsliːls) via Austroasiatic (Schuessler, 2007).

西

1. west; western; occidental
2. (Cantonese, minced oath) euphemistic form of 閪 / 𲈹 (hai¹)

   西人 [Cantonese]  ―  sai¹ jan⁴ [Jyutping]  ―  cunt; jerk

   西客 [Cantonese]  ―  sai¹ haak³ [Jyutping]  ―  bad customer

   西口西面 [Cantonese]  ―  sai¹ hau² sai¹ min⁶ [Jyutping]  ―  bitch-face

3. (Buddhism) western paradise
4. Used in transcription.

   加西亞／加西亚  ―  Jiāxīyà  ―  García

   印度尼西亞／印度尼西亚  ―  Yìndùníxīyà  ―  Indonesia

   密西西比  ―  Mìxīxībǐ  ―  Mississippi

   切爾西／切尔西  ―  Qiè'ěrxī  ―  Chelsea

compass points: 方位 (fāngwèi):  ^[edit]

西北 (xīběi)	北	東北 / 东北 (dōngběi)
西 (xī)		東 / 东 (dōng)
西南 (xīnán)	南	東南 / 东南 (dōngnán)

Others:

• Japanese: 西(シャー) (shā, “west wind (mahjong tile)”)

simp. and trad.		西

西

1. short for 西班牙 (Xībānyá, “Spain”)

   西語／西语  ―  xīyǔ  ―  Spanish language

   西政府  ―  xī zhèngfǔ  ―  Spanish government

   赴西  ―  fù xī  ―  (formal) to go to Spain

simp. and trad.		西
alternative forms		篩／筛

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “From English side?”)

西 (Cantonese)

1. spin (noun)

   腳趾尾拉西／脚趾尾拉西 [Cantonese]  ―  goek³ zi² mei^5-1 laai¹ sai¹ [Jyutping]  ―  to do a sidespin with one's little toe

2. to spin; to cause to spin
3. carrying spin
4. to deviate from a path due to some force
   • 2019 December 18, “九巴車禍：乘客身體被劏開內臟溢出　車廂變煉獄”, in 東網‎^[2]:

     坐於肇事巴士下層第2排的何先生稱，當時下層乘客全部坐在座椅上，突然聽到「嘭」一聲巨響，感覺到車身「擺一擺」及「西埋一邊」。 [Literary Cantonese, trad.]
     坐于肇事巴士下层第2排的何先生称，当时下层乘客全部坐在座椅上，突然听到「嘭」一声巨响，感觉到车身「摆一摆」及「西埋一边」。 [Literary Cantonese, simp.]

     co⁵ jyu¹ siu⁶ si⁶ baa¹ si^6-2 haa⁶ cang⁴ dai⁶ ji⁶ paai⁴ dik¹ ho⁴ sin¹ saang¹ cing¹, dong¹ si⁴ haa⁶ cang⁴ sing⁴ haak³ cyun⁴ bou⁶ co⁵ zoi⁶ zo⁶ ji² soeng⁶, dat⁶ jin⁴ teng¹ dou^3-2 “baang⁴” jat¹ sing¹ geoi⁶ hoeng², gam² gok³ dou³ ce¹ san¹ “baai² jat¹ baai²” kap⁶ “sai¹ maai⁴ jat¹ bin¹”. [Jyutping]

     Mr Ho, who sat at the second row of the lower deck of the bus, said that all lower deck passengers were sitting on their seats. He suddenly heard a loud banging noise and felt that the vehicle body swung and moved towards its side.

5. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

   架車轉彎嗰陣好西。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   架车转弯嗰阵好西。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   gaa³ ce¹ zyun³ waan¹ go² zan^6-2 hou² sai¹. [Jyutping]

   There was strong centrifugal force when the vehicle turned.

6. to hit (clarification of this definition is needed)

   一嘢西落佢度 [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]

   jat¹ je⁵ sai¹ lok⁶ keoi⁵ dou⁶ [Jyutping]

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

• “西”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[3], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A03762

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

1. west
2. Europe, European
3. kanji used to transliterate foreign languages
4. short for 西班牙 (Supein): Spain, Spanish
5. autumn

• Go-on: さい (sai, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: せい (sei, Jōyō)
• Tō-on: すい (sui)、す (su)
• Kun: にし (nishi, 西, Jōyō)
• Nanori: あき (aki)、いり (iri)、かわち (kawachi)^{←かはち (kafati, historical)}、ひし (hishi)、むら (mura)

Kanji in this term
西
にし Grade: 2
kun'yomi

Originally a compound of 去に (ini, “going away”, the 連(れん)用(よう)形(けい) (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) of the verb 去(い)ぬ (inu, “to go away”)) +‎ し (shi, “wind; (by extension) direction”, as seen in other ancient-derived words as 嵐 (arashi, “storm”, literally “wild + wind”), 旋風 (tsumuji, “whirlwind”), 東 (higashi, “east”, from older pi muka si, literally “sun + facing + wind/direction”)).^[1]

First cited in the Kojiki of 712, with the phonetic spelling 爾斯 (nisi).^[1]

• IPA^(key): [ɲ̟iɕi]
• (Tokyo) にし [nìshí] (Heiban – [0])^[2][3][4]

西(にし) • (nishi) 

1. [from 770] west (one of the four cardinal directions)

   Antonym: 東 (higashi)

2. the West
3. [from 712] the west wind, wind blowing from the west

   Antonym: 東 (higashi)

4. (theater) in kabuki:
   1. [from 1688] the left side of the stage in the Edo-style
   2. [from 1688] the right side of the stage in Kyoto and Osaka styles
5. [date uncertain] (sumo) lower-ranked wrestlers listed on the left side of a banzuke

   Antonym: 東 (higashi)

6. [from 1885] the West; (later, more specifically) the capitalist states of the West (originally western Europe, as opposed to Eastern Bloc countries)

   Synonym: 西側 (nishigawa)

   Antonym: 東 (higashi)

compass points: 方角 (hōgaku):  ^[edit]

北西 (hokusei) 西北 (seihoku)	北 (kita)	北東 (hokutō) 東北 (tōhoku)
西 (nishi)		東 (higashi)
西南 (seinan) 南西 (nansei)	南 (minami)	東南 (tōnan) 南東 (nantō)

• 西(にし)向(む)く侍(さむらい) → 二四(にし)六九(むく)士(さむらい) (nishi muku samurai, “westward-facing samurai → mnemonic for months with less than 31 days, with 士 standing for 十一”)

西(にし) • (Nishi) 

1. (Buddhism) synonym of 西方浄土 (Saihō Jōdo): the western paradise of Amitabha Buddha
2. (Buddhism) short for 西本願寺 (Nishi Hongan-ji): a Buddhist temple in Kyoto

   Synonym: お西 (o-Nishi)

3. (historical) a red-light district in Edo-period Shinjuku (as it was located west of Edo Castle)
4. a place name, especially the name of various wards in major cities throughout Japan
5. a surname

Kanji in this term
西
しゃー Grade: 2
irregular

Possibly a corruption of Mandarin 西 (xī, “west”).

西(シャー) • (shā) 

1. (mahjong) west wind (mahjong tile)

   Hypernym: 風牌 (kazehai, fanpai)

2. (mahjong) a 役 (yaku, “winning hand”) with a triplet or quad of west wind tiles; depending on wind round and player's seat wind, it is worth either 1 or 2 翻 (han, “doubles”)

   Hypernym: 役牌 (yakuhai, yaku-pai)

• 風(かぜ)牌(ハイ) (kazehai, “wind tiles”): 東(トン) (ton, “east wind”), 南(ナン) (nan, “south wind”), 西(シャー) (shā, “west wind”), 北(ペー) (pē, “north wind”)

• “西”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[4] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026

From Middle Chinese 西 (MC sej).

Historical readings
Dongguk Jeongun reading
Dongguk Jeongun, 1448	솅 (Yale: syèy)
Middle Korean
Text	Eumhun
	Gloss (hun)	Reading
Hunmong Jahoe, 1527[5]	셧녁 (Yale: syè-s-nyèk)	셔 (Yale: syè)

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [sʰʌ̹]
• Phonetic hangul: [서]

西 (eumhun 서녘 서 (seonyeok seo))

1. hanja form^? of 서 (“west; western”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [6]

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

• Kun: いり (iri, 西)

西(いり) (iri) 

1. the West

西: Hán Việt readings: tây^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}, tê^[6]
西: Nôm readings: tây^[1][3][4], tư^[1]

西 • (tây)

1. chữ Hán form of tây
   1. west
   2. West (the Western world)

西 • (tây)

1. chữ Hán form of tây (“Western, especially Western European or French”)

compass points:  ^[edit]

tây bắc (西北)	bắc (北)	đông bắc (東北)
tây (西)		đông (東)
tây nam (西南)	nam (南)	đông nam (東南)

西 • (tây)

1. chữ Nôm form of tây (“(in certain compound words) personal, private”)

• 念西 (niềm tây)