呬
xì

breathe

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 四 represents the sound.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
四
四 SoundIconic component
sì four

Depicts breathing through the nose.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhanghrids

說文解字

《說文》：“呬，東夷謂息為呬。从口，四聲。《詩》曰：‘犬夷呬矣。’”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.948漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)