溪 (xī): stream
溪 (xī) is a Chinese character meaning “stream.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 奚 (phonetic). It ranks #2144 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 溪 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).
Definitions
- stream
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 溪 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 小溪noun | xiǎo xī | brook |
| 溪流noun | xī liú | stream |
| 溪谷noun | xī gǔ | valley |
| 本溪满族自治县 | běn xī mǎn zú zì zhì xiàn | Benxi Manchu Autonomous County, in Benxi City 本溪市, Liaoning |
| 大溪地proper-noun | dà xī dì | Tahiti, island of the Society Islands group in French Polynesia (Tw) |
| 本溪市 | běn xī shì | Benxi, prefecture-level city in Liaoning Province 遼寧省|辽宁省 |
| 花溪区 | huā xī qū | Huaxi, a district of Guiyang City 貴陽市|贵阳市, Guizhou |
| 南溪区 | nán xī qū | Nanxi, a district of Yibin City 宜賓市|宜宾市, Sichuan |
| 大溪豆干 | dà xī dòu gān | dried tofu made in Daxi, a district of Taoyuan, Taiwan famous for its dried tofu 豆干 |
| 梦溪笔谈proper-noun | mèng xī bǐ tán | Dream Pool Essays by Shen Kuo 沈括, book on various fields of knowledge, the first to describe the magnetic... |
| 兰溪市 | lán xī shì | Lanxi, a county-level city in Jinhua City 金華市|金华市, Zhejiang |
| 新店溪 | xīn diàn xī | Xindian or Hsintian Creek, one of the rivers through Taipei, Taiwan |
| 纳溪区 | nà xī qū | Naxi, a district of Luzhou City 瀘州市|泸州市, Sichuan |
| 贵溪市 | guì xī shì | Guixi, a county-level city in Yingtan City 鷹潭市|鹰潭市, Jiangxi |
| 云溪区 | yún xī qū | Yunxi, a district of Yueyang City 岳陽市|岳阳市, Hunan |
溪 appears in 84 compound words: 11 as the first character, 44 as the last, and 45 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 溪 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (2)
Example Sentences
暴雨过后，山间的溪水变得湍急，发出很大的声响。
Bàoyǔ guòhòu, shānjiān de xīshuǐ biàn de tuānjí, fāchū hěn dà de shēngxiǎng.
After the heavy rain, the mountain stream became rapid and made loud noises.
配合2026平溪天燈節 台鐵平溪/深澳線時刻調整、加開班...
pèi gě píng xī tiān 燈 節 tái 鐵 píng xī shēn ào 線 時 kè 調 zhěng jiā 開 bān . . .
In conjunction with the 2026 Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival, the Taiwan Railway Administration will adjust schedules and add extra trains on the Pingxi/Shen'ao Line...
8歲男騎車遊南橫 撞護欄拋飛摔溪底亡
歲 nán 騎 車 遊 nán 橫 zhuàng 護 欄 拋 飛 shuāi xī de wáng
An 8-year-old man rode a bicycle to Nanheng and crashed into a guardrail and fell to the bottom of the stream and died
...橫公路「瓦哈筏橋」騎士自撞 摔70公尺深溪谷...無生命跡象
. . . 橫 gōng lù wǎ hā 筏 橋 騎 shì zì zhuàng shuāi gōng chǐ shēn xī gǔ . . . 無 shēng mìng 跡 xiàng
Motorcyclist Crashes into "Waha Raft Bridge" on Cross-Island Highway, Plunges 70 Meters into Ravine... No Signs of Life
...墜橋!騎士疑過彎失控撞護欄 墜17層樓深溪谷身亡
. . . 墜 橋 ! 騎 shì yí 過 彎 shī kòng zhuàng 護 欄 墜 層 樓 shēn xī gǔ shēn wáng
... Falling off a bridge! A cyclist who lost control of his car and crashed into a guardrail plunged 17 stories into a ravine and died.
溪流潺潺，催我入眠。
Xīliú chánchán, cuī wǒ rùmián.
The murmur of the brook lulls me to sleep.
溪水流进这个池塘里。
Xīshuǐ liújìn zhège chítáng lǐ.
The stream flows into the pond.
他坐在溪流旁边。
Tā zuò zài xīliú pángbiān.
He sat next to the stream.
他家后面有小溪，清可见底。
Tā jiā hòumiàn yǒu xiǎoxī, qīng kějiàn dǐ.
Behind his house is a stream so clear that you can see the bottom of it.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 氵 (water) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 溪 (xī) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 溪 have?
What is the radical of 溪?
What are the components of 溪?
What are common words containing 溪?
What characters sound the same as 溪 (xī)?
Is 溪 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 溪 with real-time feedback
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