夕 xī evening
evening; dusk
How it came to be
The same crescent as the moon, with one stroke taken out: the moon as it looks at dusk, thin and not yet properly up. Evening is when it first shows.
How it is used
- 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.