Meaning of 星期
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- week
- day of the week
- Sunday
Measure word: 個|个
How to use 星期
星期 means week, and adding a number names the day: 星期一 is Monday, 星期二 is Tuesday, up to 星期六 for Saturday. Sunday is 星期天 (xīngqītiān) or the more formal 星期日 (xīngqīrì). Example: 今天星期几？(Jīntiān xīngqī jǐ?) What day of the week is it today?
星 (xīng) means star and 期 (qī) means a period of time, as in 日期 (rìqī) date and 假期 (jiàqī) vacation. Picture a week as a period of time marked by the stars, so 星 + 期 gives you week.
Common mistake: Learners often say 星期七 for Sunday, but Chinese uses 星期天 or 星期日 instead. Also watch the tone on 期: it is first tone qī here, not qí.
星期 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.
星 xīng · star · 9 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
期 qī · a period of time · 12 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Related words
Words that share a character with 星期.
| 日期 | rìqī | date |
| 星期天 | xīngqītiān | Sunday |
| 星期日 | xīngqīrì | Sunday |
| 明星 | míngxīng | star; celebrity |
| 星星 | xīngxing | (coll.) a star; the stars in the sky |
| 假期 | jiàqī | holiday period; vacation |
| 学期 | xuéqī | term; semester |
| 长期 | chángqī | long-term; for a protracted period |
| 定期 | dìngqī | at set dates; at regular intervals |
| 短期 | duǎnqī | short-term |
| 近期 | jìnqī | near in time; in the near future |
| 期待 | qīdài | to look forward to; to await |
Questions about 星期
What does 星期 mean?
星期 (xīngqī) means "week; day of the week" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 星期?
星期 is made of 2 characters: 星 (9 strokes), 期 (12 strokes). That is 21 strokes in total.
Is 星期 an HSK word?
Yes. 星期 is on the HSK 1 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do you say 'this week', 'last week' and 'next week' with 星期?
Use 这个星期 (zhège xīngqī) for this week, 上个星期 (shàng ge xīngqī) for last week, and 下个星期 (xià ge xīngqī) for next week. The measure word 个 is common here.
What is the difference between 星期 and 周 (zhōu)?
Both can mean week and name days, so 周一 and 星期一 both mean Monday. 星期 is more common in everyday speech, while 周 sounds a bit shorter and more formal, and is common in writing.