歇 (xiē): to rest; to take a break

Meanings

1 to rest; to take a break
2 to stop; to cease

Characters

歇

xie

to rest; to take a break

Examples

走累了，歇一会儿吧。

Zǒu lèi le, xiē yīhuìr ba.

I'm tired from walking — let's take a break.

你先歇歇，别太累了。

Nǐ xiān xiēxie, bié tài lèi le.

Take a rest first, don't overwork yourself.

商店中午歇业两个小时。

Shāngdiàn zhōngwǔ xiēyè liǎng gè xiǎoshí.

The shop closes for two hours at noon.

Tips

usage

歇 is colloquial and warm-sounding. 歇一歇/歇歇 (take a rest) is very common in daily speech, especially from older people.

usage

歇 (colloquial, take a break) vs. 休息 (xiūxi, rest — more standard/formal).

Components

radical

欠 qiàn

to yawn; open mouth wide

Right side 欠 — pictograph of a person leaning with mouth thrown open. The indexing radical, exactly fitting 歇 (rest, take a break): a tired person yawning. Same radical heads 歌 sing, 欢 rejoice, 欲 desire, 次 next — the breath-and-mouth family of words about wide-mouth actions.

phonetic

曷 hé

what; why (here phonetic)

Left side 曷 supplies the sound: hé drifted to xiē with regular h/x alternation and onset shift. 曷 is the literary interrogative 'why, when' (now mostly archaic). Same phonetic gives 喝 hē (drink) and 渴 kě (thirsty), 歇 xiē — a tight phonetic family. The 日 over 匃 inside 曷 doesn't carry meaning here, only sound.