Radical

9 strokes

west 西 (100) + woman 女 (15) = want; ask for 要

This is the second example of a character with two pronunciations, which share the same spelling and differ only in tone. recall that this is signalled by a film set story: so the two meanings are associated with two different archetypes (see Character 75).

When it uses the fourth tone this character can sometimes be used with another verb, it then means “must” or “have to”.

不要 (9) búyào Don’t …

要是 (30) yàoshì if

As a Western woman alone in an eastern culture, think of the King of Siam’s tutor in “the King and I” — so this is a film set story. As the director calls “Cut!” for the umpteenth time, the actress playing the leading role shouts, “What do you want from me?” / She storms off stepping on the dwarf’s foot, causing him to shout “Yeow!” For good measure she also kicks the giant ’s foot and he says “Yeow!” too — (but more in surprise than pain). \ “All I did was ask for her autograph!” he complains.