夕阳西下 (xī yáng xī xià) — the setting sun sinks in the west; dusk (poetic/literary)

Definition

A literary chengyu meaning 'the setting sun sinks in the west' — used almost entirely in writing to evoke dusk, the end of a day, or by extension a fading era. Far more poetic than the plain 太阳下山.

idiom
the setting sun sinks in the westdusk (poetic/literary)

Examples

  • 夕阳西下，。
    xī yáng xī xià, Tiān biān yí piàn hóng xiá.
    The setting sun sinks in the west, and the horizon is covered in red clouds.
  • 夕阳西下，。
    Zhàn zài shān dǐng kàn xī yáng xī xià, xīn zhōng gǎn kǎi wàn qiān.
    Standing on the mountaintop watching the sunset, I felt a myriad of emotions.
  • 夕阳西下，。
    xī yáng xī xià, Duàn cháng rén zài tiān yá.
    The sun sets in the west, and a heartbroken man wanders at the edge of the world.

Origin

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

夕 was drawn as a crescent moon.

Open 夕 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 陽; 阳 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
阜阜fùhill
Sound part声符shēngfú
昜
昜yáng陽yáng
Same sound today

In the traditional form 陽, 阜 shows a hill and 昜 is the older character for the word, tied to sunshine and the sound; simplified 阳 is a later shorthand.

Open 阳 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 西 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

下 is drawn as a short horizontal line below a long curved line.

Open 下 →

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