Chinese character for summer: 夏 (xià)

The Chinese character for summer is 夏 (xià). It means summer and appears in 夏天 (xiàtiān, summer) and 夏日 (xiàrì, summer day). It is also the name of the ancient Xia dynasty.

How 夏 is built

夏 has 一 and 自 at the top and 夂 at the bottom. Ancient forms showed a large human figure with a head, arms and feet; the meaning of summer came later, and the exact origin is debated. As a memory aid, see a person with head 自 and walking feet 夂, out and about in the long summer days. It is identical in simplified and traditional Chinese.

夏 xià · summer

• 一 — horizontal stroke
• 自zì — self
  • 目mù — eye
    • 口kǒu — mouth
    • 二 — two strokes
• 夂zhǐ — to go
  • 丿 — falling stroke
  • 又yòu — (once) again

How 夏 is used

Before you use it as a tattoo or design: 夏 is identical in both scripts and is a common name character; 夏天 makes 'summer' unambiguous.

Questions

Related

• 春spring (season)
• 秋autumn (fall)
• 冬winter
• 日sun
• 火fire

Full page for 夏 › All characters for words