(): stream

() is a Chinese character meaning “stream.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2144 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, water. Its radical form (water) appears in many related characters such as (shuǐ, water), (hàn, Han ethnic group), (, steam).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. stream

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵奚 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
xiǎo xībrook
xī liústream
xī gǔvalley
xī kǒuXikou or Hsikou Township in Chiayi County 嘉義縣|嘉义县[Jia1 yi4 Xian4], west Taiwan
běn xī mǎn zú zì zhì xiànBenxi Manchu Autonomous County in Benxi 本溪市[Ben3 xi1 Shi4], Liaoning
dà xī dìTahiti, island of the Society Islands group in French Polynesia (Tw)
běn xī shìBenxi, prefecture-level city in Liaoning Province 遼寧省|辽宁省[Liao2 ning2 Sheng3]
měi xī qūMeixi, a district of Yichun City 伊春市[Yi1 chun1 Shi4], Heilongjiang
huā xī qūHuaxi, a district of Guiyang City 貴陽市|贵阳市[Gui4 yang2 Shi4], Guizhou
dà xī dòu gāndried tofu made in Daxi, a district of Taoyuan, Taiwan famous for its dried tofu 豆干[dou4 gan1]
mèng xī bǐ tánDream Pool Essays by Shen Kuo 沈括[Shen3 Kuo4], book on various fields of knowledge, the first to describe the magnetic...
lán xī shìLanxi, a county-level city in Jinhua City 金華市|金华市[Jin1 hua2 Shi4], Zhejiang
xīn diàn xīXindian or Hsintian Creek, one of the rivers through Taipei, Taiwan
nà xī qūNaxi district of Luzhou city 瀘州市|泸州市[Lu2 zhou1 shi4], Sichuan
guì xī shìGuixi, a county-level city in Yingtan City 鷹潭市|鹰潭市[Ying1 tan2 Shi4], Jiangxi
93
Total compounds
15
As first character
43
As last character
42
As middle character

appears in 93 compound words: 15 as the first character, 43 as the last, and 42 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

jiā
0.59812 co-occurrences
zhuàng
0.55512 co-occurrences
0.55315 co-occurrences
jiāo
0.5066,522 co-occurrences
liú
0.48152,362 co-occurrences
0.4371,968 co-occurrences
shuāng
0.43413,242 co-occurrences
cāng
0.4281,506 co-occurrences
hàn
0.4272,550 co-occurrences
zhèn
0.42523,352 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

fù gū bó xīHSK 7+

dispute among womenfolk (idiom); family squabbles

phrase
Mèng Xī BǐtánHSK 7+

Dream Pool Essays (Song dynasty classic)

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

暴雨过后,山间的水变得湍急,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.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

配合2026平天燈節 台鐵平/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...

百度新闻Feb 2026

8歲男騎車遊南橫 撞護欄拋飛摔底亡

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

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...橫公路「瓦哈筏橋」騎士自撞 摔70公尺深谷...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

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

...墜橋!騎士疑過彎失控撞護欄 墜17層樓深谷身亡

. . . 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.

Tatoeba

流潺潺,催我入眠。

Xīliú chánchán, cuī wǒ rùmián.

The murmur of the brook lulls me to sleep.

Tatoeba

水流进这个池塘里。

Xīshuǐ liújìn zhège chítáng lǐ.

The stream flows into the pond.

Tatoeba

他坐在流旁边。

Tā zuò zài xīliú pángbiān.

He sat next to the stream.

Tatoeba

他家后面有小,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

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 溪 (xī) mean in Chinese?
溪 (xī) primarily means "stream." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2144 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 溪 and 蹊?
溪 (xī) and 蹊 (qī) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 氵 vs 足 (same 奚 component).
How many strokes does 溪 have?
溪 is written with 13 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 溪?
The radical associated with 溪 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 溪?
溪 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 奚 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵奚 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 溪?
Common words with 溪 include: 小溪 (xiǎo xī, "brook"); 溪流 (xī liú, "stream"); 溪谷 (xī gǔ, "valley"); 溪口 (xī kǒu, "Xikou or Hsikou Township in Chiayi County 嘉義縣|嘉义县[Jia1 yi4 Xian4], west Taiwan"); 本溪满族自治县 (běn xī mǎn zú zì zhì xiàn, "Benxi Manchu Autonomous County in Benxi 本溪市[Ben3 xi1 Shi4], Liaoning"). There are over 93 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 溪 (xī)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xī: 吸 (to breathe), 西 (the West), 希 (to hope), 息 (breath), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 溪 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 溪 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.