洗 xǐ — to wash, to bathe; to rinse away; to develop (photographs)
xǐ (third tone, dipping)
to wash, to bathe; to rinse away; to develop (photographs)
9 strokesRadical 水Frequency #571
Pinyin
- xǐ (third tone, dipping)
to wash, to bathe; to rinse away; to develop (photographs)
Character breakdown
Ideographic description
⿰氵先The sequence reads left to right and describes how the parts are arranged.
- 氵meaning partno entry yetThe water radical: three droplets of the stream 水.
- 先sound partno entry yet先 xiān for the sound; on its own it means "first, in advance".
Mnemonic
Water 氵 with 先 for the sound. The Shuowen gives the original sense as washing the feet, and 先 is doing no more than supplying the sound. Everyday: 洗手, 洗衣服, 洗澡 to take a bath, 洗碗 to do the dishes, and 洗照片 to have photographs developed.
A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.
Words containing 洗
- 洗xǐ (third tone, dipping)to wash
- 洗澡xǐzǎo (third tone, dipping)to have a bath, to take a shower
- 洗手间洗手間xǐshǒujiān (third tone, dipping)toilet, washroom, restroom
- 清洗qīng (first tone, high and level) xǐ (third tone, dipping)to wash
- 洗衣机洗衣機xǐ (third tone, dipping) yī (first tone, high and level) jī (first tone, high and level)washer
- 冲洗沖洗chōng (first tone, high and level) xǐ (third tone, dipping)to rinse
- 洗礼洗禮xǐ (third tone, dipping) lǐ (third tone, dipping)baptism (lit. or fig.)
- 洗衣粉xǐ (third tone, dipping) yī (first tone, high and level) fěn (third tone, dipping)laundry detergent
- 洗涤剂洗滌劑xǐ (third tone, dipping) dí (second tone, rising) jì (fourth tone, falling)cleaning agent