to hope

to admire; variant of 稀[xi1]

crossed threads (乂) + cloth (布) = rare fabric, something hoped for

希 originally depicted a loosely woven cloth, suggesting something thin, rare, or scarce — and from scarcity comes longing. The idea of hoping for something flows naturally from wanting what is hard to find.

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CrossingSemantic
ClothSemantic

Words with 希

里希特霍芬

lǐ xī tè huò fēn

Ferdinand von Richthofen (1833-1905), German geologist and explorer who published a major foundational study of the geology of China in 1887 and first introduced the term Silk Road 絲綢之路|丝绸之路

阿希姆

ā xī mǔ

Askim (city in Østfold, Norway)

陈冠希

chén guān xī

Edison Chen (1980-), Hong Kong singer and actor

陈希同

chén xī tóng

Chen Xitong (1930–2013), mayor of Beijing at the time of 4th June 1989 Tiananmen incident

一线希望

yī xiàn xī wàng

a gleam of hope

伏罗希洛夫

fú luó xī luò fū

Kliment Voroshilov (1881-1969), Soviet politician and military commander

希腊

xī là

Greece

南希

nán xī

Nancy

古希腊

gǔ xī là

ancient Greece

古希腊语

gǔ xī là yǔ

Ancient Greek (language)

吾尔开希

wú ěr kāi xī

Örkesh Dölet (1968-), one of the main leaders of the Beijing student democracy movement of 1989

哈希

hā xī

hash (computing)

More characters with 乂