析 xī to split wood

源How it came to be

A tree with an axe beside it, the blade turned to the trunk. It is splitting along the grain, not felling: taking one thing apart into its parts, which is what analysis is.

用How it is used

• A purely bound morpheme in modern Chinese - it never appears alone, only inside 分析 fēnxī (to analyze) and the more formal 解析 jiěxī (to analyze/parse in a technical sense).
• 分析 is the everyday word you'll use constantly: 分析一下情况 fēnxī yíxià qíngkuàng, "let's analyze the situation".
• Don't try to use 析 by itself - unlike many bound characters it has essentially no other productive compounds at this level.

字Characters built with 析

• 晰 clear

词Words with 析

• 分析fēnxīto analyzeHSK 5
• 解析jiěxīto analyzeHSK 9