Meaning of 气
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- gas; air
- smell
- weather
- to make angry; to annoy; to get angry
- vital energy; qi
How to use 气
气 appears in many everyday words about air and weather, such as 天气 (tiānqì) and 空气 (kōngqì), and as a verb it means to make someone angry. A very common pattern is 气死我了 (qì sǐ wǒ le), "I'm so angry." Example: 今天天气很好。(Jīntiān tiānqì hěn hǎo.) The weather is nice today.
The strokes of 气 (qì) look like layers of steam or clouds drifting upward, with a final hooked stroke curling away like breath leaving your mouth. Think of it as air in motion, whether that is weather outside or the hot air of someone getting angry.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 气 (qì) with 汽 (qì), which adds the water radical and means steam or vapor, as in 汽车 (qìchē) car. Also do not mix it up with 乞 (qǐ, to beg), which looks similar but lacks the top horizontal strokes and has a third tone.
气 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.
气 qì · gas · 4 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Related words
Words that share a character with 气.
| 生气 | shēngqì | to get angry; to be furious; vitality; liveliness |
| 天气 | tiānqì | weather |
| 不客气 | bù kèqì | you're welcome; don't mention it |
| 空气 | kōngqì | air; atmosphere |
| 气温 | qìwēn | air temperature |
| 气候 | qìhòu | (meteorology) climate; (fig.) climate; prevailing conditions (in human affairs) |
| 运气 | yùnqi | luck (good or bad) |
| 勇气 | yǒngqì | courage |
| 力气 | lìqi | physical strength |
| 气球 | qìqiú | balloon |
| 暖气 | nuǎnqì | central heating; heater |
| 客气 | kèqi | polite; courteous |
Questions about 气
What does 气 mean?
气 (qì) means "gas; air; smell" and is used as a verb and noun.
How do you write 气?
气 is made of 1 character: 气 (4 strokes). That is 4 strokes in total.
Is 气 an HSK word?
Yes. 气 is on the HSK 2 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 气 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 气 is written 氣.
What is the difference between 生气 and 气 when talking about anger?
生气 (shēngqì) means to be angry yourself, as in 他生气了 (tā shēngqì le), he got angry. 气 used alone usually means to make someone else angry, as in 你别气我 (nǐ bié qì wǒ), don't annoy me.
Why does 不客气 contain 气 if it means you're welcome?
Here 气 is part of 客气 (kèqì), which means polite or standing on ceremony. 不客气 (bù kèqì) literally means "no need to be so polite," which works as a reply to thank you.