西

北西	北	北東
西		東
南西	南	南東

Fig.1. 方位

Draw of 西 by jisho

南 (西, X897F) is unicode character number 35199, KanjiLiberal.

西 can be pronounced as "nishi" and mean West.

Encoding

The Utf8 encoding of (西, X897F) and the other three kanjis denoting directions (方位) can be revealed with PHP program du.t; command

php du.t 北南東西

produces the following output:

北南東西
The array has 12 bytes; here is its splitting:
e5 8c 97 e5 8d 97 e6 9d b1 e8 a5 bf
array(4) {
  [0]=>
  string(3) "北"
  [1]=>
  string(3) "南"
  [2]=>
  string(3) "東"
  [3]=>
  string(3) "西"
}

Unicode character number 21271 id est, X5317
Picture: 北 ; uses 3 bytes. These bytes are:
XE5 X8C X97 in the hexadecimal representation and
229 140 151 in the decimal representation

Unicode character number 21335 id est, X5357
Picture: 南 ; uses 3 bytes. These bytes are:
XE5 X8D X97 in the hexadecimal representation and
229 141 151 in the decimal representation

Unicode character number 26481 id est, X6771
Picture: 東 ; uses 3 bytes. These bytes are:
XE6 X9D XB1 in the hexadecimal representation and
230 157 177 in the decimal representation

Unicode character number 35199 id est, X897F
Picture: 西 ; uses 3 bytes. These bytes are:
XE8 XA5 XBF in the hexadecimal representation and
232 165 191 in the decimal representation

At nihongomaster, the unicode character number 35199 (西, X897F) appears as kanji number 36496 . (That may cause some confusion, as unicode character number 36496 is 躐).

Semantic

北西	北北西	北	北北東	北東
西北西		\( ^\rule{0pt}{28pt} \)		東北東
西				東
西南西		\( _\rule{0pt}{28pt} \)		東南東
南西	南南西	南	南南東	南東

The 3-kanji constructions with characters 南, 東, 南, 西 are allowed to specify the direction more precisely, as it is shown in figure at right.

Examples

The nihongomaster suggests the examples below:

Examples of 西,にし in a Sentence

列車は西へ走っていた。 The train was hurrying west.

たとえ太陽が西から昇ろうとも、私は決心を変えません。 Even if the sun were to rise in the west, I would not change my mind.

太陽は東から昇り、西へ沈む。 The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

たとえ太陽が西から昇るようなことがあっても、私の決心は変わらない。 Even if the sun were to rise in the west, I would not change my mind.

コロンブスは西へいけばインドへ到着すると主張した。 Columbus argued that he could reach India by going west.

場所は西バージニア州の遠く離れた小さな山村。 The scene was a tiny mountain village in a remote section of West Virginia.

たとえ太陽が西から昇っても、私は決心を変えません。 Even if the sun were to rise in the west, I would not change my mind.

コロンブスは新しい大陸を探し、更に西へと航海した。 Columbus sailed farther west to look for a new continent.

たとえ太陽が西から昇っても、君の計画には同意しないだろう。 If the sun were to rise in the west, I would never agree to your plan.

仮に太陽が西から昇ることがあっても、私は決心を変えません。 If the sun were to rise in the west, I wouldn't change my mind.

The jisho suggests the following examples:

西 【セイ】 Spain, Spanish (language)

西遊記 【サイユウキ】 Monkey (Monkey King, Magic Monkey), Journey to the West (classic of Chinese literature)

南西 【ナンセイ】 southwest

北北西 【ホクホクセイ】 north-northwest

西遊記 【サイユウキ】 Monkey (Monkey King, Magic Monkey), Journey to the West (classic of Chinese literature)

西方 【セイホウ】 western direction, Western Pure Land (Amitabha's Buddhist paradise), western fighter in a match (e.g. sumo)

西瓜 【スイカ】 watermelon (Citrullus lanatus)

西班牙 【スペイン】 Spain

Graphic

Character 西 looks as overlapping of Greek letter \( \pi \) and
slightly deformed square, some of ⼝,⼞,ロ,口.

References

Keywords

du.t, Japanese, Jisho, Kanji, KanjiLiberal, Nihongomaster, West, Inicode, 南, 東, 南, 西, 方, 位