Meaning of 急
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- urgent
- pressing
- rapid
- hurried
- worried
- to make (sb) anxious
How to use 急
急 (jí) describes something urgent or a person who feels anxious and impatient. It often appears in words like 着急 (zháojí) and 紧急 (jǐnjí). Example: 别急，慢慢说。(Bié jí, màn man shuō.) Don't worry, take your time and speak slowly.
Look at the bottom of 急: it is 心 (xīn), the heart. When something is urgent, your heart races and you feel worried, which is exactly what 急 (jí) means.
Common mistake: Learners often say 我很急 when they mean "I'm worried." That sounds more like "I'm in a rush." 我很着急 (wǒ hěn zháojí) is more natural for "I'm anxious." Also keep the second tone in jí, and do not confuse it with 极 (jí, extremely), which sounds the same.
急 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
急 jí · urgent · 9 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 急.
| 紧急 | jǐnjí | urgent; emergency |
| 着急 | zháojí | to worry; to feel anxious; to feel a sense of urgency; to be in a hurry |
| 急忙 | jímáng | hastily |
| 急救 | jíjiù | to give emergency treatment; first aid |
| 应急 | yìngjí | to respond to an emergency; to meet a contingency |
| 急需 | jíxū | to urgently need; urgent need |
| 急于 | jíyú | eager to; in a hurry to |
| 危急 | wēijí | critical; desperate (situation) |
| 焦急 | jiāojí | anxiety; anxious |
| 急性 | jíxìng | acute |
| 急诊 | jízhěn | to give or receive urgent medical treatment; emergency treatment (at a hospital emergency |
| 当务之急 | dāngwùzhījí | (idiom) top priority job; a matter of the greatest urgency |
Questions about 急
What does 急 mean?
急 (jí) means "urgent; pressing" and is used as a adjective.
How do you write 急?
急 is made of 1 character: 急 (9 strokes). That is 9 strokes in total.
Is 急 an HSK word?
Yes. 急 is on the HSK 2 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 急 and 着急?
着急 (zháojí) is the common everyday way to say a person feels anxious or is in a hurry. 急 alone is shorter and often used in set phrases like 别急 or to describe things, as in 这件事很急 (this matter is urgent).
Can 急 describe weather or water?
Yes. 急 can mean rapid or violent, so you can say 水流很急 (shuǐliú hěn jí), the current is fast, or 雨下得很急, the rain is coming down hard.