起

qǐ

Pinyin
qǐ
Pinyin (Plain)
qi
Tone
3
Strokes
10
Radical
走
Readings
qǐqiTone: 3to rise; to raise; to get up; to set out; to start; to appear; to launch; to initiate (action); to draft; to establish; to get (from a depot or counter); verb suffix, to start; starting from (a time, place, price etc); classifier for occurrences or unpredictable events: case, instance; classifier for groups: batch, groupOrder: 0Primary
Stroke Order Code
Speed
Stroke Order Data
["M 398 589 Q 503 616 508 621 Q 515 628 511 637 Q 504 647 476 654 Q 448 658 402 640 L 348 622 Q 251 604 232 600 Q 196 593 223 578 Q 256 557 327 574 Q 337 577 349 578 L 398 589 Z", "M 389 478 Q 393 536 398 589 L 402 640 Q 402 707 423 786 Q 426 796 406 812 Q 370 831 346 835 Q 330 839 322 830 Q 315 823 323 807 Q 342 779 343 759 Q 347 693 348 622 L 349 578 Q 349 526 347 469 C 346 439 387 448 389 478 Z", "M 376 438 Q 442 451 521 461 Q 537 462 537 470 Q 538 482 522 491 Q 497 501 475 498 Q 429 488 389 478 L 347 469 Q 191 439 89 428 Q 77 427 74 420 Q 71 410 85 399 Q 122 372 161 384 Q 305 432 335 431 L 376 438 Z", "M 389 183 Q 393 249 396 304 L 398 334 Q 401 415 402 416 L 401 417 Q 388 430 376 438 C 352 456 323 459 335 431 Q 344 419 347 334 Q 347 289 347 208 C 347 178 387 153 389 183 Z", "M 396 304 Q 399 304 403 304 Q 464 313 510 318 Q 535 322 525 336 Q 513 351 487 355 Q 448 359 398 334 C 371 321 366 304 396 304 Z", "M 261 262 Q 279 290 298 314 Q 308 327 294 341 Q 255 377 228 373 Q 216 372 218 356 Q 227 247 102 120 Q 93 117 49 68 Q 42 53 56 57 Q 113 66 210 184 Q 241 235 245 237 L 261 262 Z", "M 245 237 Q 401 113 676 -20 Q 710 -36 772 -20 Q 928 28 940 41 Q 940 42 941 42 Q 945 54 926 53 Q 833 59 777 57 Q 624 57 424 165 Q 406 174 389 183 L 347 208 Q 304 235 261 262 C 236 278 221 255 245 237 Z", "M 778 492 Q 797 562 819 583 Q 841 608 819 622 Q 756 655 754 655 Q 744 655 736 650 Q 694 620 604 606 Q 592 606 595 599 Q 596 593 609 587 Q 624 580 686 592 Q 737 605 744 596 Q 751 590 743 559 Q 736 528 727 491 C 720 462 770 463 778 492 Z", "M 640 433 Q 647 442 794 459 Q 804 460 805 469 Q 805 476 778 492 C 763 501 756 499 727 491 Q 669 475 625 464 C 596 457 614 419 640 433 Z", "M 925 268 Q 910 302 898 360 Q 897 373 889 378 Q 882 382 879 364 Q 867 294 856 281 Q 832 254 730 254 Q 675 255 651 266 Q 630 276 626 291 Q 622 307 623 350 Q 627 396 637 419 Q 640 426 640 433 C 645 451 645 451 625 464 Q 585 492 573 488 Q 560 484 567 468 Q 585 437 581 388 Q 578 271 610 243 Q 634 225 684 216 Q 733 209 811 210 Q 881 211 910 227 Q 937 240 925 268 Z"]
Meaning
In Chinese, **起 (qǐ)** mainly means “to rise” or “to get up,” and by extension “to start” or “to begin” an action or event. It also appears in many common patterns like **起床** (get out of bed), **想得起** (can remember), or **从这里起** (starting from here).
Metadata
Locale: en
Cached At: 5/9/2026, 2:27:27 AM

Usage

The character 起 (qǐ) basically means “to rise,” “to get up,” or “to start,” and learners first meet it in everyday phrases about movement or beginning an action. Very common words include 起床 “to get out of bed,” 起来 “to get up / stand up / start to do something,” and 起点 “starting point.” It also appears when talking about starting events or processes, like 发起 “to launch (an activity or campaign)” and 兴起 “to arise; to spring up.” In conversation, 起来 is especially frequent, not just for physical rising but also to indicate that an action is beginning or how something seems, as in 看起来 “it looks (like)…” or 吃起来 “(when you eat it) it tastes…”. Learners also often see 起 used in patterns about “starting from” a time, place, or quantity, and in result or comparison structures. For example, 从今天起 “starting from today,” 从北京起飞 “take off from Beijing,” or 起价 “starting price.” It can form verb–complement patterns showing an outcome or ability to gather or cover something, such as 想得起/想不起 “can/can’t remember,” 买得起/买不起 “can/can’t afford,” or 收拾得起 “able to tidy (it) up.” In these cases, 起 keeps the sense of “rising up” or “getting something together,” but is often best understood through whole expressions rather than a single literal meaning.

Handwriting Notes

起 in handwriting usually appears as a left-right structure: 走之旁 (the “walk” component) on the left and 己 on the right. In ordinary pen or pencil writing, strokes tend to connect or round off slightly, so the small horizontal and diagonal lines of the left part may fuse into a more flowing shape, and the right side 己 often looks like a curved hook with less angularity than in printed fonts. People may vary how tightly they pack the left component, how long they make the bottom horizontal, and how open or closed the final hook on the right is, but the key visual cues remain the “walking” shape on the left and the curled 己 on the right, forming a balanced rectangle-like block. Modern AI handwriting recognition systems are trained on these common variations so they can still correctly identify 起 even when written with personal style, slight slant, or minor stroke connections.

Description

起 is a common verb meaning “to rise,” “to get up,” or “to start,” as in 起床 (to get out of bed) or 开始起 (to begin). It also appears as a directional or resultative complement meaning “up” or “onset,” indicating the start of an action or movement, as in 站起来 (to stand up).

Common Words

  • 一起yìqǐtogether
  • 起来qǐlaito get up; to stand up; to start to (do something)
  • 起床qǐchuángto get out of bed
  • 起飞qǐfēito take off (of an airplane)
  • 起点qǐdiǎnstarting point
  • 起作用qǐ zuòyòngto have an effect; to function
  • 起源qǐyuánorigin; to originate
  • 起码qǐmǎat least; minimum
  • 起伏qǐfúrise and fall; ups and downs
  • 引起yǐnqǐto cause; to lead to; to arouse
  • 对不起duìbuqǐsorry; to be sorry
  • 没关系，没关系，不起méi guānxi, méi guānxi, bù qǐthis entry is invalid and should be ignored
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