The mountain splits the village into an eastern half and a western half.
Tips
mistakes
This is the rarer of the two words written this way. With a neutral second syllable, 东西 is the everyday word for a thing, which is what 买东西, to go shopping, is built on. Full tones on both syllables mean the compass directions instead.
usage
Mostly used for layout and orientation. A road or a building is described as 东西走向, running east to west, and a site is measured 东西 one way and 南北 the other. Writing about culture also uses it for East and West as two halves of the world.
