吸 (xī): to breathe in; to inhale

Meanings

1 to breathe in; to inhale
2 to suck; to absorb
3 to attract

Characters

吸

xī

to breathe in; to inhale; to absorb; to suck

Examples

深深地吸一口气。

Shēnshēnde xī yīkǒuqì.

Take a deep breath.

海绵可以吸很多水。

Hǎimián kěyǐ xī hěnduō shuǐ.

A sponge can absorb a lot of water.

他在外面吸烟。

Tā zài wàimiàn xīyān.

He's smoking outside.

Tips

memory

吸 has 口 (mouth) on the left and 及 (to reach) on the right — reaching with the mouth to breathe in or suck.

Components

radical

口 kǒu

mouth

Left indexing mouth radical — pictograph of an open mouth. Anchors 吸 firmly in the breath-and-eating family alongside 喝 (drink), 吃 (eat), 吹 (blow), 吐 (spit). Inhaling is the most basic mouth action: drawing the world inward.

phonetic

及 jí

to reach (here phonetic)

Right 及 supplies the sound (jí → xī through j/x palatalization). 及 itself pictures a hand reaching out and grasping someone — lending a faint flavor of "drawing in, pulling toward oneself," which fits inhalation perfectly. Same phonetic family: 极 (extreme), 级 (grade), 急 (urgent).