西

西 (Kangxi radical 146, 襾+0, 6 strokes, cangjie input 一金田 (MCW), four-corner 1060₀, composition ⿱一𠁤)

• 哂, 㛉, 𡶼, 廼, 徆, 恓, 拪, 洒, 𤞏, 迺, 䧈, 𢬣, 晒, 栖, 毢, 𤈇, 牺, 𤥒, 𦚵, 𠒓, 𥙘, 硒, 䄽, 𬭄, 粞, 絤(𬘟), 𦕩, 舾, 𬠂, 𧧍, 跴, 𨠴, 𫘊, 𫙘
• 𪠧, 𨚹, 𤿢, 𪀹, 酉, 𡧳, 茜, 䇴, 𤶈, 𪎢, 氥, 閪

• KangXi: page 1128, character 10
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 34763
• Dae Jaweon: page 1595, character 19
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2805, character 2
• Unihan data for U+897F

Historical forms of the character 西
Shang		Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Pictogram (象形) – a bag or basket, borrowed for phonetic value. Compare 東 (OC *toːŋ, “bundle > east”). Traditionally explained as a pictogram of a bird settling into its nest, which by analogy with the setting of the sun means “west”. This etymology has been disputed (Sears), but Sagart (2004) stands by it.

The word is traditionally reconstructed to have a /*s/-initial in Old Chinese, e.g. /*sɯːl/ in Zhengzhang (2003). However, recent scholarship has suggested that the Old Chinese initial should instead be reconstructed as /*s-nˤ/, one of the reasons being 西 appears to be the phonetic in 迺 (nǎi), the archaic graphic variant of 乃 (OC *nɯːʔ). The new reconstruction, /*s-nˤər/ in Baxter and Sagart (2014), also accounts for how 西 can be the phonetic in 哂 (shěn, “to smile”). For more information, see Sagart (2004), Baxter and Sagart (2014) and Nohara (2018).

In light of the new construction with the initial consonant cluster /*s-nˤ/, the possibilities of the etymology of 西, aside from being cognate with 棲／栖 (qī, “to roost; to rest”) (B-S OC /*s-nˤər/), include:

• Related to Tibetan ནེར་བ (ner ba, “to sink; to fall gradually”) (Unger, 1990).
• Related to Chepang नेलःसा (nelʔ‑, “to go down; to sink”), which may be the same etymon as the Written Tibetan word above (Schuessler, 2007).
• Related to the root 尼 (nǐ, “to stop”) (OC /*nˤərʔ/ for intransitive form, /*nˤərʔ-s/ for transitive form in Baxter and Sagart (2014)).
• Related to Tibetan མནལ (mnal, “sleep”) and Burmese နား (na:, “to rest; to stop for a while”) (Hill, 2019).
• An Austroasiatic nominal n-infix derivative from the root "go down", as in Old Mon cnis (“ghat”) < Old Mon cis (“to go down”) , with Proto-Austroasiatic *tsn- > Proto-Sinitic *sn-. Therefore, this etymon literally means "the place where one goes down to > Mon "ghat" > OC "nest, west". The base form is 濟 (OC *ʔsliːls) via Austroasiatic (Schuessler, 2007).

西

1. west; western
2. (Cantonese, euphemistic) Synonym of 閪／𲈹 (hai1).

• (compass points) 方位;

西北 (xīběi)	北	東北／东北 (dōngběi)
西 (xī)		東／东 (dōng)
西南 (xīnán)	南	東南／东南 (dōngnán)

Others:

• Japanese: 西(シャー) (shā, “west wind (mahjong tile)”)

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. west
2. Europe, European
3. kanji used to transliterate foreign languages
4. Short for 西班牙 (Supein): Spain, Spanish
5. autumn

• Go-on: さい (sai, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: せい (sei, Jōyō)
• Tō-on: すい (sui); す (su)
• Kun: にし (nishi, 西, Jōyō)
• Nanori: あき (aki); いり (iri); かわち (kawachi)^{←かはち (kafati, historical)}; ひし (hishi); むら (mura)

Originally a compound of 去に (ini, “going away”, the 連(れん)用(よう)形(けい) (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) of the verb 去(い)ぬ (inu, “to go away”)) +‎ し (shi, “wind; (by extension) direction”, as seen in other ancient-derived words as 嵐 (arashi, “storm”, literally “wild + wind”), 旋風 (tsumuji, “whirlwind”), 東 (higashi, “east”, from older pi muka si, literally “sun + facing + wind/direction”)).[1]

First cited in the Kojiki of 712, with the phonetic spelling 爾斯 (nisi).[1]

• (Tokyo) にし [nìshí] (Heiban – [0])[2][3][4]
• IPA^(key): [ɲ̟iɕi]

西(にし) • (nishi) 

1. [from 770] west (one of the four cardinal directions)

   Antonym: 東 (higashi)

2. the West
3. [from 712] the west wind, wind blowing from the west

   Antonym: 東 (higashi)

4. (theater) in kabuki:
   1. [from 1688] the left side of the stage in the Edo-style
   2. [from 1688] the right side of the stage in Kyoto and Osaka styles
5. [date uncertain] (sumo) lower-ranked wrestlers listed on the left side of a banzuke

   Antonym: 東 (higashi)

6. [from 1885] the West; (later, more specifically) the capitalist states of the West (originally western Europe, as opposed to Eastern Bloc countries)

   Synonym: 西側 (nishigawa)

   Antonym: 東 (higashi)

• (compass points) 方角(ほうがく) (hōgaku);

西北(せいほく) (seihoku) 北西(ほくせい) (hokusei)	北(きた) (kita)	東北(とうほく) (tōhoku) 北東(ほくとう) (hokutō)
西(にし) (nishi)		東(ひがし) (higashi)
西南(せいなん) (seinan) 南西(なんせい) (nansei)	南(みなみ) (minami)	東南(とうなん) (tōnan) 南東(なんとう) (nantō)

• 西(にし)向(む)く侍(さむらい) → 二四(にし)六九(むく)士(さむらい) (nishi muku samurai, “westward-facing samurai → mnemonic for months with less than 31 days, with 士 standing for 十一”)

西(にし) • (Nishi) 

1. (Buddhism) Synonym of 西方浄土 (Saihō Jōdo): the western paradise of Amitabha Buddha
2. (Buddhism) Short for 西本願寺 (Nishi Hongan-ji): a Buddhist temple in Kyoto

   Synonym: お西 (o-Nishi)

3. (historical) a red-light district in Edo-period Shinjuku (as it was located west of Edo Castle)
4. a place name, especially the name of various wards in major cities throughout Japan
5. a surname

Possibly a corruption of Mandarin 西 (xī, “west”).

西(シャー) • (shā) 

1. (mahjong) west wind (mahjong tile)

   Hypernym: 風牌 (kazehai, fanpai)

2. (mahjong) a 役 (yaku, “winning hand”) with a triplet or quad of west wind tiles; depending on wind round and player's seat wind, it is worth either 1 or 2 翻 (han, “doubles”)

   Hypernym: 役牌 (yakuhai, yaku-pai)

• 風(かぜ)牌(ハイ) (kazehai, “wind tiles”): 東(トン) (ton, “east wind”), 南(ナン) (nan, “south wind”), 西(シャー) (shā, “west wind”), 北(ペー) (pē, “north wind”)

From Middle Chinese 西 (MC sei).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [sʰʌ̹]
• Phonetic hangul: [서]

Wikisource 西 (eumhun 서녘 서 (seonyeok seo))

1. Hanja form^? of 서 (“west; western”).

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

• Kun: いり (iri, 西)

西 (hiragana いり, rōmaji iri)

1. the West

西: Hán Nôm readings: tây, tê, sài

1. west
2. West (the Western world)

• Sơn Tây (山西)
• Tây Sơn (西山)
• Sài Gòn (西貢)
• phía tây (費西)

• Thiều Chửu : Hán Việt Tự Điển Hà Nội 1942
• Trần Văn Chánh: Từ Điển Hán Việt NXB Trẻ, Ho Chi Minh Ville, 1999
• Vũ Văn Kính: Đại Tự Điển Chữ Nôm, NXB Văn Nghệ, Ho Chi Minh Ville, 1999