TraceHanzi

飢 meaning and stroke order

jī

Hungry, starving; hunger, famine

10 strokesRadical 飠Simplified 饥
Strokes10
Pinyinjī
ToneTone 1
Frequency#5,426
Printable worksheet

How to write 飢, stroke by stroke

10 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.

  1. 1
  2. 2
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Meaning of 飢

Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.

jīfirst tone (high and level)
  1. (bound form) hungry

How 飢 is built

Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Food.

shífood+jǐhow many

飠 gives the meaning and 几 hints at the sound.

Radical: 飠 (food), shared by 44 characters on this site.

How to remember 飢

飢 combines the food radical 飠 with 几 (jǐ), which gives the sound jī. Picture a table 几 with only a little food on it, so you are left hungry.

飢 is the traditional form, and in mainland China you will see it written 饥. It is a bound form, so it appears inside words like 饥饿 (jī'è) and 饥渴 (jīkě) rather than alone. Example: 他饥肠辘辘地回到家。(Tā jīchánglùlù de huídào jiā.) He came home with his stomach rumbling.

Common mistake: Learners often say 我很饥 to mean "I am hungry," but everyday speech uses 我饿了 (wǒ è le). Also, the phonetic 几 is jǐ in the third tone, while 飢 is first tone jī.

Common words with 飢

Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.

WordPinyinMeaningLevel
飢餓jī'èhunger; starvationHSK 7-9
忍飢挨餓rěnjī-ái'èstarving; famishedHSK 7-9
飢渴jīkěhungry and thirsty; (fig.) to crave (knowledge, love etc)
飢腸轆轆jīchánglùlù(idiom) stomach rumbling with hunger; very hungry

Questions about 飢

How many strokes are in 飢?

飢 is written with 10 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.

What does 飢 mean?

飢 (jī) means hungry, starving; hunger, famine. A common word with it is 饥饿 (jī'è), meaning "hunger; starvation".

How do you pronounce 飢?

飢 is pronounced jī, in the first tone (high and level).

What is the radical of 飢?

The radical of 飢 is 飠, which carries the idea of "food". Dictionaries list 飢 under this radical.

What is the simplified form of 飢?

飢 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 饥, used in mainland China and Singapore.

What is the difference between 飢 and 饑?

In older texts 飢 meant personal hunger and 饑 meant a crop failure or famine. In modern usage they are often treated as the same word, and both simplify to 饥.

Does 饥渴 only mean physically hungry and thirsty?

No. It can also mean craving something strongly, as in 对知识的饥渴 (duì zhīshi de jīkě), a thirst for knowledge.