基 (jī): base, foundation
基 (jī) is a Chinese character meaning “base, foundation.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 其 (phonetic) and 土 (semantic). It ranks #280 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 基 earth. Its radical form 土 (earth) appears in many related characters such as 在 (zài, to exist), 地 (dì, earth, ground), 场 (chǎng, field, place).
Definitions
- base, foundation
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 基 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 基
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 基本 | jī běn | basic | 4 |
| 基地noun | jī dì | base (of operations, industrial, military, research etc) | 6 |
| 基因noun | jī yīn | gene (loanword) | 6 |
| 基金noun | jī jīn | fund | 6 |
| 基础noun | jī chǔ | base | 4 |
| 基本上adverb | jī běn shang | basically | 4 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 基督 | jī dū | Christ (abbr. for 基利斯督[Ji1 li4 si1 du1] or 基利士督[Ji1 li4 shi4 du1]) |
| 基于 | jī yú | because of |
| 比基尼 | bǐ jī ní | bikini (loanword) |
| 地基 | dì jī | foundations (of a building) |
| 扬基 | yáng jī | (loanword) Yankee (esp. the New York Yankees baseball team) |
| 基石 | jī shí | foundation stone |
| 甲基 | jiǎ jī | methyl group (chemistry) |
| 洛基 | luò jī | Loki, god of fire and mischievous destroyer in Norse mythology |
| 基辅 | jī fǔ | Kyiv or Kiev, capital of Ukraine |
| 基调 | jī diào | main key (of a musical composition) |
| 根基 | gēn jī | foundation |
| 基线 | jī xiàn | baseline (surveying, budgeting, typography etc) |
| 氨基 | ān jī | amino |
| 基层 | jī céng | basic level |
| 登基 | dēng jī | to ascend the throne |
基 appears in 100 compound words: 57 as the first character, 36 as the last, and 7 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 基 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (22)
Showing 12 of 22 idioms containing 基.
Example Sentences
学习语言需要打好基础，从最基本的语法和词汇开始。
Xuéxí yǔyán xūyào dǎ hǎo jīchǔ, cóng zuì jīběn de yǔfǎ hé cíhuì kāishǐ.
Learning a language requires laying a good foundation, starting with the most basic grammar and vocabulary.
(新春走基层)从塔里木河到钱塘江:一颗“石榴籽”的...
xīn chūn zǒu jī céng cóng tǎ lǐ mù hé dào qián táng jiāng yī kē shí 榴 籽 de . . .
(From Tarim River to Qiantang River: A "Pomegranate Seed" of...
新春走基层丨护送万千乡愁 奔赴团圆之路
xīn chūn zǒu jī céng 丨 hù sòng mò qiān xiāng chóu bēn fù tuán yuán zhī lù
New Year walk grassroots 丨 escort thousands of nostalgia to the reunion road
新春走基层|拉萨:年货购销两旺 高原喜迎新年
xīn chūn zǒu jī céng lā sà nián huò gòu xiāo liǎng wàng gāo yuán xǐ yíng xīn nián
Spring Festival at the Grassroots Level | Lhasa: New Year Shopping Booms as Plateau Welcomes the New Year
新春走基层|如愿!守岛30年的海军“兵王”登上军...
xīn chūn zǒu jī céng rú yuàn ! shǒu dǎo nián de hǎi jūn bīng wáng dēng shǎng jūn . . .
New Year's Grassroots Tour | Wish Fulfilled! Navy's "Top Soldier" Who Guarded Island for 30 Years Reaches Military...
新春走基层丨95后潜水员与千年白鹤梁的水下之约
xīn chūn zǒu jī céng 丨 hòu qián shuǐ yuán yú qiān nián bái hè liáng de shuǐ xià zhī yāo
Spring Festival at the Grassroots Level | Post-95 Diver's Underwater Encounter with the Millennia-Old Baiheliang
我乘几路车去怀基基？
Wǒ chéng jǐ lù chē qù huái jī jī?
What number bus do I take to get to Waikiki?
你不懂基本逻辑吗？
Nǐ bù dǒng jīběn luóji ma?
Do you not understand basic logic?
我们的遗传基因真的和黑猩猩几乎一样吗？
Wǒmen de yíchuán jīyīn zhēnde hé hēixīngxīng jīhū yīyàng ma?
Is it true that our genetic heritage is almost the same as that of chimpanzees?
我们应该对人使用基因编辑吗？
Wǒmen yīnggāi duì rén shǐyòng jīyīn biānjí ma?
Should we use genetic engineering on people?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 基 (jī) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 基 and 期?
How many strokes does 基 have?
What is the radical of 基?
What are the components of 基?
What are common words containing 基?
What characters sound the same as 基 (jī)?
Is 基 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 基 with real-time feedback
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