茜 Red Dye

Radical Combination

• 艹

  Flowers
• 西

  West

Meaning

Primary

Red Dye

Alternative

Madder

Mnemonic

Flowers that grow in the west are colored by the sun setting so they turn bright red. That's why red flowers that grow in the west are used to make red dye. They're the closest to the actual color of the red sun, so they're prized by painters and other artists for their perfect color for dye.

Hints

Picture yourself sitting in the west as the red sun sets, smashing those pretty red flowers into a paste to make red dye. Your fingers get dyed red too and you crush the petals into a paste.

Readings

On’yomi

せん

Kun’yomi

あかね

Nanori

None

Mnemonic

As you're smashing the flowers into red dye, a little girl comes up to you and points at the paste. She says, "赤ね (あかね)?" (That's red, right?) You look down at the red dye on your fingers and nod. She's right, it is red.

Hints

Hear the little girl say あかね while pointing to the red dye. She's right. And the way she says it is so darn cute.