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).

Spoken pronunciation

HSK 4 Radical: 土 earth11 strokesFrequency #280其 phonetic 土 semantic

Definitions

base, foundation

Etymology & Origin

基

pictophoneticearth

Decomposition: ⿱其土 (layout: top-bottom)

Components:其phonetic 土semantic

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adjective/adverb	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proper-noun	jī dū	Christ (abbr. for 基利斯督 or 基利士督)
基于conjunction	jī yú	because of
基金会	jī jīn huì	foundation (institution supported by an endowment)
巴基斯坦proper-noun	bā jī sī tǎn	Pakistan
基督徒noun	jī dū tú	Christian
基督教proper-noun	jī dū jiào	Christianity
比基尼noun	bǐ jī ní	(loanword) bikini
肯塔基proper-noun	kěn tǎ jī	Kentucky, US state
军事基地	jūn shì jī dì	military base
基督教徒noun	jī dū jiào tú	a Christian
密尔沃基proper-noun	mì ěr wò jī	Milwaukee (city)
爱斯基摩proper-noun	ài sī jī mó	Eskimo
地基noun	dì jī	foundations (of a building)
扬基proper-noun	yáng jī	Yankee
基石noun	jī shí	foundation stone

106

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

基 appears in 106 compound words: 58 as the first character, 37 as the last, and 5 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.

础chǔ

0.70291,072 co-occurrences

峰fēng

0.664127,494 co-occurrences

奠diàn

0.52717,931 co-occurrences

督dū

0.524104,254 co-occurrences

本běn

0.492171,052 co-occurrences

特tè

0.492144,646 co-occurrences

坦tǎn

0.48331,020 co-occurrences

隆lóng

0.46928,681 co-occurrences

斯sī

0.468134,400 co-occurrences

甲jiǎ

0.45734,942 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (26)

爱斯基摩ÀisījīmóHSK 7+

Eskimo

氨基比林ān jī bǐ lín

aminopyrine (loanword)

phrase

氨基葡糖ān jī pú táng

glucosamine (abbr. for 氨基葡萄糖)

phrase

巴基斯坦BājīsītǎnHSK 7+

Pakistan (a country in South Asia)

共同基金gòngtóng jījīnHSK 4+

mutual fund

noun

赫尔辛基Hè'ěrxīnjīHSK 7+

Helsinki (a city, the capital city of Finland)

基本词汇jī běn cí huìHSK 5+

basic word

phrase

基本粒子jīběn lìzǐHSK 6+

elementary particle

noun

基础教育jīchǔ jiàoyùHSK 4+

basic education

noun

基础设施jīchǔ shèshīHSK 5+

infrastructure

noun

基地组织Jīdì ZǔzhīHSK 5+

al-Qaeda

基督新教JīdūxīnjiàoHSK 6+

Protestantism (Protestant Christian denomination)

Showing 12 of 26 idioms containing 基.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

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.

百度新闻Feb 2026

(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...

百度新闻Feb 2026

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

百度新闻Feb 2026

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

百度新闻Feb 2026

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...

百度新闻Feb 2026

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

Tatoeba

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?

Tatoeba

你不懂基本逻辑吗？

Nǐ bù dǒng jīběn luóji ma?

Do you not understand basic logic?

Tatoeba

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?

Tatoeba

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?

基 (jī) primarily means "base, foundation." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #280 in character frequency.

What's the difference between 基 and 期?

基 (jī) and 期 (qī) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 土 vs 月 (same 其 component).

How many strokes does 基 have?

基 is written with 11 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.

What is the radical of 基?

The radical associated with 基 is 土 (earth). This radical appears in many characters related to earth.

What are the components of 基?

基 is composed of: 其 (phonetic), 土 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱其土 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 基?

Common words with 基 include: 基本 (jī běn, "basic"); 基地 (jī dì, "base (of operations, industrial, military, research etc)"); 基因 (jī yīn, "gene (loanword)"); 基金 (jī jīn, "fund"); 基督 (jī dū, "Christ (abbr. for 基利斯督 or 基利士督)"). There are over 106 compound words containing this character.

What characters sound the same as 基 (jī)?

Several characters share the pronunciation jī: 机 (machine, opportunity), 己 (self), 几 (how many), 计 (to calculate). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.

Is 基 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

Yes, 基 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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基 (jī): base, foundation

Definitions

Etymology & Origin

Stroke Order

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 基

Common Compounds

Strongest Collocations

Idioms & Chengyu (26)

Example Sentences

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 土 (earth) component

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced jī

Frequently Asked Questions

Practice writing 基 with real-time feedback