Chou Collection, Upper Volume Radical: Mouth (kǒu) Character: Xi Kangxi strokes: 15 Page 208, Entry 31 Pronounced xi. Broad Rhymes (Guangyun) and Orthodox Rhymes (Zhengyun): Xu and ji combined; Collected Rhymes (Jiyun) and Rhyme Collection (Yunhui): Qi and ji combined. Broad Rhymes: Identical to the character meaning to inhale. Yang Xiong, Rhapsody on Sweet Springs (Ganquan Fu): Inhaling the floating essence of the clear clouds. Sima Xiangru, Rhapsody on Sir Fantasy (Zixu Fu): To inhale and pant, gathering and scattering. Also interchangeable with the character meaning to wear slippers (sa). History of the Former Han (Qianhan Shu), Biography of Sima Xiangru: Swiftly and hurriedly, walking with slippers to depart forever. Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji): Written as xi. Also, according to Collected Rhymes (Jiyun): Identical to the character meaning to contract. Laozi, Classic of the Way and Virtue (Daodejing): To desire to contract it, one must first stretch it. Commonly written as the character meaning to contract (xi).