Definitions
surname Xi
(literary) what?; where?; why?
Etymology
Depicts a hand holding a rope tied to a slave. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
About
The character 奚, which remains unchanged between traditional and simplified forms, is structured with the component 大 (large) at the bottom, historically surmounted by representations of a hand (爪) and a slender thread or rope (幺). This pictorial composition originally depicted a bound captive or subordinate person, leading to its core ancient meaning of "slave" or "servant". From this concrete noun, the character’s application expanded through usage as a phonetic loan to function as an interrogative pronoun, equivalent to "why", "how", or "what". Over centuries, this abstract, interrogative meaning became primary, completely displacing the original sense of a bound person, so that the character's form now conveys a grammatical function entirely divorced from its pictorial etymology.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
他奚落了同学。
她因奚落他人而道歉。
奚先生是我们的老师。
我不知道他为何奚落我。
避免奚落别人是一种礼貌。
尽管被奚落，他仍然坚持自己的观点。
奚经理在会议上批评了那种奚落同事的行为。
对于这种无端的奚落，我们必须采取严肃的态度。