Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
The character 吸 (xī) means 'to inhale,' 'to suck,' or 'to absorb.' It is composed of two parts: the mouth radical 口 on the left, indicating an action related to the mouth or breathing, and the phonetic component 及 (jí) on the right, which also carries a sense of 'reaching' or 'connecting.' In ancient Chinese, 吸 depicted the motion of drawing air or liquid inward through the mouth. Over time, its meaning expanded metaphorically to include absorbing knowledge or being attracted to something, such as in 吸引 (xīyǐn, 'to attract'). The Liushutong (六书通) form L38534 represents an early variant, showing how the structure was standardized in seal script before evolving into the modern kanji 吸. Arrived in Japan: The character 吸 likely arrived in Japan during the early waves of Chinese cultural import, possibly by the Nara period (710–794 CE) or earlier, as part of the introduction of Chinese writing and Buddhism. It appears in classical Japanese texts such as the Man'yōshū and was incorporated into the Japanese writing system with the same meaning—'to inhale' or 'to suck'—as in 呼吸 (kokyū, 'breathing') and 吸う (suu, 'to smoke' or 'to suck').