yuánzì Chinese characters of the chemical elements
西

西 xī

“west(ern); westward; occident; Kangxi radical 146”

On its own, an ordinary character; Cantonese sai1. Readings and gloss from the Unicode Unihan database.

Carries Selenium

石 stone → solid non-metal
+
西 xī
=
硒 xī · Se 34

Transliterates syllable 1 of se·le·nium: selenium → xī.

The element keeps the component’s reading exactly.

Other elements read xī

锡 Tin