ZHIZHI 知止 · LEARN CHINESE DAILY

down; below; next

xià
3 strokes · Indicative: a mark below a baseline · HSK 1

Where 下 comes from

The mirror of 上: baseline with a stroke hanging beneath. Together they're the yin-yang of position — the first abstract concepts a script ever drew, needing no object at all, just relation.

下 in Chinese culture

下 works as hard as 上: 下班 get off work (the day's sweetest verb), 下雨 it rains ('rain descends'), 下次 next time, 下载 download. 天下 'all under heaven' was the classical word for the world itself — everything below the sky was the empire's concern.

Example

下班 xiàbān — to get off work

外面下雨了。
Wàimian xiàyǔ le.
It's raining outside.

How to remember it

A root growing BELOW the line — DOWN.

下饭 'goes down with rice' praises any dish that makes you eat more rice — and now describes bingeable shows: 下饭剧, TV to eat by.

Same sound, different tones

1st xiā
shrimp
2nd xiá
rosy clouds
4th xià
down

Words unlocked by 下

下班 xiàbān
to get off work
下雨 xiàyǔ
to rain
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