Collection: Zi Collection, Page Position: Upper Radical: Bird (niǎo) Page 150, Entry 04 In the Collected Rhymes (Jiyun), the ancient form of the character for west is written as presented here. Detailed annotations can be found in the radical section. The Explanation of Simple and Compound Characters (Shuowen Jiezi) defines it as the appearance of a bird on a nest. This is a pictographic character. Since birds return to their nests to roost when the sun is in the west, this character was borrowed to represent the western cardinal direction.