稀
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sparse; scattered; rare; uncommon; diluted; thin; watery; (bound form) sth liquid or of thin consistency (as in 綠豆稀|绿豆稀[lu : 4 dou4 xi1] "sweet mung bean soup"); (bound form) totally; extremely (used with negative attributes, as in 稀糟[xi1 zao1] "utterly ruined")
12 strokes
Dict coverage rank #1,639 U+7A00
How 稀 is formed
Phono-semantic compound (形声字)
禾 (semantic, “grain”) + 希 (phonetic, xī)
How to remember it
scarce · Heisig RSH #1166
wild rice + 希 hope
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Phonetic series: characters sharing the sound component 希
Siblings built with the same phonetic component 希 (xī) — compare how they read:
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 希 sound component | xī | rare; to hope for, to strive for; to expect |
| 烯 | xī | alkene |
| 唏 | xī | to weep, to sob; to grieve |
| 欷 | xī | to sigh; to sob |
| 浠 | xī | a river in Hubei province |
| 郗 | chī | an ancient city; surname |
Words containing 稀
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 稀有气体 | xī yǒu qì tǐ | rare gas; noble gas (chemistry) |
| 地广人稀 | dì guǎng rén xī | vast, but sparsely populated |
| 稀里光当 | xī li guāng dāng | thin; diluted |
| 稀有元素 | xī yǒu yuán sù | (chemistry) rare element |
| 物以稀为贵 | wù yǐ xī wéi guì | the rarer sth is, the greater its value (idiom) |
| 稀土元素 | xī tǔ yuán sù | rare earth element (chemistry) |
| 稀松平常 | xī sōng píng cháng | nothing special; ordinary |
| 稀土金属 | xī tǔ jīn shǔ | rare earth element |
| 稀松骨质 | xī sōng gǔ zhì | cancellous bone; trabecular bone; spongy bone |
| 人烟稀少 | rén yān xī shǎo | no sign of human habitation (idiom); desolate |
| 稀奇古怪 | xī qí gǔ guài | (idiom) crazy; bizarre; weird; fantastic; strange |
| 拉稀 | lā xī | (coll.) to have diarrhea; to shrink back; to cower |
| 稀稀拉拉 | xī xī lā lā | sparse and fragmentary |
| 稀有 | xī yǒu | uncommon; rare |
| 和稀泥 | huò xī ní | to try to smooth things over; to paper over the issues; to gloss things over |
| 稀世 | xī shì | rare |
| 古稀 | gǔ xī | seventy years old |
| 稀土 | xī tǔ | rare earth (chemistry) |
| 稀巴烂 | xī bā làn | smashed up; broken into pieces |
| 稀客 | xī kè | infrequent visitor |