TongTong
Sign in

归西 (guī xī) — (noun, euphemistic) death; passing away (especially in Buddhist context)

Definition

A literary/Buddhist euphemism for 'passing away' — softer than 死 and 去世, almost never used in everyday speech.

noun
(noun, euphemistic) deathpassing away (especially in Buddhist context)

Examples

  • 归西。
    Lǎo rén de guī xī ràng quán cūn rén dōu hěn bēi shāng.
    The old man's passing made the whole village very sad.
  • 归西，。
    Tā tí dào zǔ fù de guī xī shí, shēng yīn hěn dī.
    His voice was low when he mentioned his grandfather's death.
  • 归西。
    Fó jiào tú xiāng xìn guī xī hòu néng qù jí lè shì jiè.
    Buddhists believe that after death they can go to the Pure Land.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

归guīreturn
西xīwest

归 (return) and 西 (west) together refer to returning to the Western Paradise, hence dying.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 歸; 归 is its simplified writing.

  • 𠂤𠂤𠂤ancient form of {{zh-l|*師|troops}}
  • 帚帚zhǒubroom; sweep

The traditional form 歸 combines 𠂤 (troops) and 帚 (broom; sweep) to show sweeping away an enemy and returning; the simplified 归 is a later abbreviation.

Open 归 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 西 →
Appears in
Life Stages & Age

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.