How to Write 汐 (xī) — Meaning “night tide / ebb tide”

Imagine the water radical 氵 as the ocean and 夕 as a setting sun in the evening. Together they form 'evening tide' — the water recedes as night falls. This visual helps link the character to its meaning of 'ebb tide at night'.

Pay attention to the 夕 component: the first stroke is a left-falling stroke (丿), followed by a horizontal hook (㇇), and a dot in the center. Do not make the 夕 too wide; keep it compact under the water radical. The dot should be placed inside the hook, not outside.

汐 (night tide) uses the water radical with 夕 (evening). 㳄 is a rare ancient character meaning 'saliva' or 'flowing mouth water' — it looks like 次 but with water. 氿 (guǐ) means 'spring water from a hole' and is written with 氵 and 九. Visually, 夕 vs 次 vs 九 is the key difference.

汐 appears most commonly in the word 潮汐 (cháo xī), meaning 'tides' (both high and low). It also appears in the place name 汐止 (Xīzhǐ), a district in New Taipei City, Taiwan. The word 晚汐 is used occasionally in literature to mean 'evening tide'.

Common words containing 汐 include: 潮汐 (cháo xī) — tides; 汐止 (xī zhǐ) — Xizhi (a district in New Taipei City); 晚汐 (wǎn xī) — evening tide.