夕 (xī): (bound form) sunset, dusk, (bound form) evening, night

夕 (xī) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) sunset.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 勹 (structural) and 丶 (structural). It ranks #1975 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, 夕 a crescent moon. Its radical form 夕 (evening) appears in many related characters such as 外 (wài, outside), 多 (duō, many), 夜 (yè, night).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (bound form) sunset
  2. dusk
  3. (bound form) evening
  4. night

Etymology & Origin

夕

pictographicA crescent moon

Decomposition: ⿻勹丶 (layout: overlay)

Stroke Order

1
2
3

Practice writing 夕 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 夕

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
除夕nounchú xīlunar New Year's Eve5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
危在旦夕phrasewēi zài dàn xīin imminent peril (idiom)
前夕nounqián xīeve
夕阳nounxī yángsunset
宾夕法尼亚州proper-nounbīn xī fǎ ní yà zhōuPennsylvania
朝夕相处zhāo xī xiāng chǔto spend all one's time together (idiom)
夕阳西下phrasexī yáng xī xiàthe sun sets in the west (idiom)
朝夕nounzhāo xīmorning and night
一朝一夕phraseyī zhāo yī xīlit. one morning and one evening (idiom)
朝不保夕phrasezhāo bù bǎo xīat dawn, not sure of lasting to evening (idiom)
夕照nounxī zhàoglow of the setting sun
新年前夕xīn nián qián xīNew Year's eve
宾夕法尼亚大学bīn xī fǎ ní yà dà xuéUniversity of Pennsylvania
一夕数惊yī xī shù jīng(lit.) one scare after another in a single night (idiom)
天有不测风云,人有旦夕祸福tiān yǒu bù cè fēng yún , rén yǒu dàn xī huò fúfortune as unpredictable as the weather, every day may bring fortune or calamity (idiom)
夕发朝至xī fā zhāo zhìto depart in the evening and arrive the next morning
36
Total compounds
14
As first character
50
As last character
36
As middle character

夕 appears in 36 compound words: 14 as the first character, 50 as the last, and 36 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 夕 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

宾bīn
0.5905,296 co-occurrences
前qián
0.48718,774 co-occurrences
尼ní
0.4849,030 co-occurrences
旦dàn
0.4541,172 co-occurrences
除chú
0.4474,871 co-occurrences
亚yà
0.4435,316 co-occurrences
暮mù
0.439330 co-occurrences
初chū
0.40819 co-occurrences
朝cháo
0.4043,100 co-occurrences
法fǎ
0.4028,858 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (13)

朝不保夕zhāobùbǎoxīHSK 5+

to be in a critical and desperate situation; to be on the verge of death (or collapse, defeat, etc.)

phrase
朝过夕改zhāo guò xī gǎiHSK 5+

to correct in the evening a fault of the morning (idiom); to quickly amend one's ways

phrase
朝令夕改zhāolìngxīgǎiHSK 5+

to change frequently and erratically

phrase
朝闻夕改zhāo wén xī gǎiHSK 5+

lit. heard in the morning and changed by the evening; to correct an error very quickly (idiom)

phrase
花朝月夕huā zhāo yuè xīHSK 5+

a beautiful day; cf Birthday of the Flowers on lunar 15th February and Mid-autumn Festival on lunar 15th August

phrase
命在旦夕mìng zài dàn xīHSK 5+

to be at death's door (idiom)

phrase
危在旦夕wēizàidànxīHSK 5+

in imminent danger; on the brink of crisis

phrase
夕阳西下xīyángxīxiàHSK 5+

when the sun sets in the west; at dusk

phrase
一朝一夕yīzhāoyīxīHSK 5+

short period of time

phrase
只争朝夕zhǐzhēngzhāoxīHSK 5+

to make the best use of one's time

phrase
只争旦夕zhǐ zhēng dàn xīHSK 5+

see 只爭朝夕|只争朝夕

phrase
朝饔夕飧zhāoyōngxìsūnHSK 5+

talentless (used to describe someone who does little other than eat)

phrase

Showing 12 of 13 idioms containing 夕.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

我在字典里查到了夕字的详细解释。

wǒ zài zì diǎn lǐ chá dào le xī zì de xiáng xì xiè shì .

I looked up the detailed explanation of the character "夕" in the dictionary.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

【日常辩证】老瓶子/享受夕阳之美

rì cháng biàn zhèng lǎo píng zǐ xiǎng shòu xī yáng zhī měi

【Daily dialectic】Old bottle/enjoy the beauty of the sunset

中時新聞網Feb 2026

北市医美诊所枪击!竹联23岁枪手“除夕刚交保”初五开轰 检声押禁见

běi shì yī měi zhěn suǒ qiāng jī ! zhú lián 2 3 suì qiāng shǒu chú xī gāng jiāo bǎo chū wǔ kāi hōng jiǎn shēng yā jīn jiàn

North City Medical Beauty Clinic shooting! The 23-year-old gunman of the Bamboo Union "just handed over the bail on Chinese New Year's Eve" opened on the fifth day of the first month, and the prosecution was prohibited

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

伊朗再军演 美部署F-22 谈判前夕美伊加紧“排兵布阵”

yī lǎng zài jūn yǎn měi bù shǔ F 2 2 tán pàn qián xī měi yī jiā jǐn pái bīng bù zhèn

Iran resumes military exercises, the United States deploys F-22s, and the United States and Iran step up their "troop arrangement" on the eve of negotiations

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

民调前夕 江启臣固桩本命区 杨琼璎端政绩

mín diào qián xī jiāng qǐ chén gù zhuāng běn mìng qū yáng 琼 璎 duān zhèng jì

On the eve of the polls, Jiang Qichen solidified the pile of the natal district Yang Qiongying's political achievements

EttodayFeb 2026

乌俄战争4周年前夕 泽伦斯基喊话川普:请站我们这一边

wū é zhàn zhēng 4 zhōu nián qián xī zé lún sī jī hǎn huà chuān pǔ : qǐng zhàn wǒ men zhè yī biān

On the eve of the 4th anniversary of the Ukrainian-Russian War, Zelensky shouted to Trump: Please stand on our side

Tatoeba

美丽的夕阳,不是吗?

Měilì de xīyáng, bùshìma?

A beautiful sunset, isn't it?

Tatoeba

你看过这么美的夕阳吗?

Nǐ kàn guo zhème Měidí xīyáng ma?

Have you ever seen such a beautiful sunset?

Tatoeba

我们看着夕阳西下。

Wǒmen kàn zhe xīyángxīxià.

We are watching the sun set.

Tatoeba

考试前夕,他特别焦虑。

Kǎoshì qiánxī, tā tèbié jiāolǜ.

He was very anxious on the eve of the exam.

Character Family

夕 Radical Family — Characters sharing the evening radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced xī

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 夕 (xī) mean in Chinese?
夕 (xī) primarily means "(bound form) sunset." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1975 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 夕 and 日?
夕 (xī) and 日 (rì) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 夕 (night) vs 日 (day).
How many strokes does 夕 have?
夕 is written with 3 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 夕?
The radical associated with 夕 is 夕 (evening). This radical appears in many characters related to evening.
What are the components of 夕?
夕 is composed of: 勹 (structural), 丶 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿻勹丶 with a overlay layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 夕?
Common words with 夕 include: 危在旦夕 (wēi zài dàn xī, "in imminent peril (idiom)"); 前夕 (qián xī, "eve"); 夕阳 (xī yáng, "sunset"); 除夕 (chú xī, "lunar New Year's Eve"); 宾夕法尼亚州 (bīn xī fǎ ní yà zhōu, "Pennsylvania"). There are over 36 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 夕 (xī)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xī: 西 (the West), 系 (to connect), 息 (breath), 希 (to hope), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 夕 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 夕 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 夕 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.