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Si

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This Chinese character is pronounced as "si". The ways to form Chinese characters are six-fold, one of which is associative compounds, or Hui Yi.  The word "si" is a case in point. It compounds the Chinese characters of "one" and "ten", implying a complete cycle or starting well and ending well. In ancient Chinese, "si" was equal to a complementary salutation to men.

"Si" can be prefixed or suffixed with other characters to form new words, which is a typical ways of word formation in Chinese. For example, when prefixed with "person" it means "scholar" while the meaning is "adviser" if "scheme" is suffixed to "si".

In all circumstances, "si" encompasses a positive meaning. Words formed with this element has a positive connotation in general, unless a overriding word with negative meaning is paired with it. For example, "sei (death) si" means suicidal martyr.

(All pronunciations are in Cantonese)

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