夕 xī evening
evening; dusk
How it came to be
象形 · Pictogram
A drawing of the thing it means.
Originally: crescent moon
The oldest form is a crescent moon, the same picture as the moon; early writing used the two for each other.
用法
- Literary bound character for "evening/dusk", essentially never used alone in modern speech.
- 除夕 (chúxī), Lunar New Year's Eve, is its most important compound, a major cultural date.
- 前夕 (qiánxī) means "the eve of" an event, in formal writing: 战争前夕 (zhànzhēng qiánxī), on the eve of war.
- 夕阳 (xīyáng), the setting sun, is often used figuratively for old age, as in 夕阳红 (xīyáng hóng) referring to the elderly.