息xī

Modern simplified form (簡體). 息 (xī, "breath, to breathe, news") combines the ancient pictogram of a nose (自) with the heart (心), originally depicting a person inhaling and exhaling; the fusion of self and heart captures the idea of life‑giving breath. It appears as a component in characters such as 熄 (to extinguish), 媳 (daughter‑in‑law), and 螅 (a kind of insect), showing its persiste