How to Write 澌 (sī) — Meaning “to drain or exhaust; ice floe”

Picture water (氵) being split apart by a saw (斯 sounds like "saw") until it is completely drained or turned into broken ice floes. The image of a saw cutting through water helps link the character to exhaustion and ice fragments.

The right side 斯 has 12 strokes: start with the top-left part 其 (eight strokes, like a table) then add 斤 (four strokes, like an axe). A common mistake is making the 其 too wide or forgetting the final dot inside it—keep the left and right sides balanced under the water radical.

澌 (sī) means to exhaust or floating ice, with 斯 on the right. 溏 (táng) means semi-fluid or slushy, using 唐 (táng) on the right, as in 溏心蛋 (soft-boiled egg). 源 (yuán) means source or origin, with 原 (yuán) on the right, opposite in sense to 澌's idea of draining away.

澌 is a literary or classical character, not part of everyday vocabulary. You may see it in written phrases like 澌灭 (to perish or die out) or 冰澌 (slush or floating ice), often in poetry or formal descriptions of ice melting or things coming to an end.

Common words containing 澌 include: 澌灭 (sī miè) — to perish or die out; 冰澌 (bīng sī) — Slush; floating ice; 澌尽 (sī jǐn) — to be completely exhausted.