This is the 519th most frequent Japanese word.
西
"West"
西 (nishi) is used here to indicate a direction or location relative to another place, serving as a noun.
京都は大阪の西にあります。
Kyoto is west of Osaka.
西 (nishi) is describing a culture associated with the western part of the world, functioning as an adjective.
彼女は西の文化にとても興味があります。
She is very interested in Western culture.
西 (nishi) denotes the direction one is traveling towards, used as an adverb to describe the action of proceeding.