How to Write 辛 (xīn) — Meaning “Bitter; pungent; hard; the 8th Heavenly Stem.”

Imagine a hardworking person (立) carrying a heavy cross (十) on their back — the work is bitter and tiring, which matches the word 辛苦 (xīn kǔ). The dot on top is like a drop of sweat from the hard labor.

The stroke order is dot, dot, horizontal, left-falling stroke, horizontal, horizontal, then a long vertical stroke that goes through all horizontals. A common mistake is to forget the left-falling stroke or make it too short — it must slant left from the second horizontal line.

辛苦 (xīn kǔ) means 'hard work' or 'toilsome' and is often used to thank someone for their effort, like 'You worked hard.' 辛辣 (xīn là) describes spicy food or sharp, biting criticism. 辛勤 (xīn qín) means 'diligent' and is used for hardworking people, such as 辛勤的员工 (hardworking employees).

Beyond daily words, 辛 is the 8th Heavenly Stem (天干) used in the traditional Chinese calendar to mark years or days. Culturally, it appears in idioms like 含辛茹苦 (hán xīn rú kǔ), meaning 'to endure all kinds of hardships,' reflecting its core idea of bitterness and struggle.

Common words containing 辛 include: 辛苦 (xīn kǔ) — hard; laborious; toilsome.; 辛辣 (xīn là) — spicy; pungent; biting.; 辛勤 (xīn qín) — Hardworking; industrious..