希 - I DESIRE a RARE Embroidered Cloth

Readings & Meanings:

キ

rare, aspire, desire

Common Usage:

希望

希薄

古希

Examples:

災害被害地区の人々に希望を与える。

希薄な人間関係も悪くない。

60歳の人のことを「古代稀なり」といって、古希とも古稀とも書く。

Translations:

He gives hope to the people in the calamity-stricken area.

It's not bad to have thin human relations.

?

Radical:

巾, Haba, is our radical, down there on the bottom. It shows a clothwrapped around a head.

The other stuff is just two sets of intersecting lines. These indicate fine stitching, which was rare in those times.

References:

http://www.kanjinetworks.com/indices/radindex.html
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/node/kanji/ki.htm