“休” is a Chinese character, and its pronunciation is “xiū”. Th-e structure of this character is very intresting, even we can

regard it as a story. The left part is single side, and it means a

person; the right part is wood, and it means a big tree. So we

can imagine that a person was too tired to move on, thus he orshe stoped and rested against a big tree.

 

  There are many kinds of meanings of the character “休”，and some basic meanings as follows :

【1】have a rest ；【2】cease；【3】don’t; 【4】Auspicious, goodness, good fortune; 【5】resign.

  As shown in below, There are some phrases in common use.

【1】休息 xiūxi  have a rest; take a rest; rest

例：她只有周末能休息。

Ex: She can rest only on weekends.

【2】休闲  xiūxián  free

例：厦门，是一个休闲的好地方。

Ex: Xiamen, is a good place for leisure.

【3】休假 xiūjià  have a holiday; take a vacation

例：她每年可以带薪休假两个星期。

Ex: She can have two weeks of vacation with pay per year.

【4】休会 xiūhuì  adjourn; stand adjourned

例：主持会议的人生病了，今天不得不休会。

Ex: The meeting have to adjourn on account of the chairman's illness.

【5】休养 xiūyǎng  recuperate; convalesce

例：医生说，他需要好好休养一段时间。

Ex: The docter said that he need a good rest for a period of time.

【6】休想 xiūxiǎng  don't imagine that it's possible

例：你最好说实话，休想骗我！

Ex: You had better tell the truth, don’t imagine you can cheat me!