既 (jì): already, since, both... (and...)

既 (jì) is a Chinese character meaning “already.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 旡 (structural). It ranks #724 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 既 a person 旡 turning away from food 皀; compare 即. Its radical form 无 (not) appears in many related characters such as 无 (wú, not to have).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. already
  2. since
  3. both... (and...)

Etymology & Origin

既

ideographicA person 旡 turning away from food 皀; compare 即

Components:旡structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Practice writing 既 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 既

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
既然conjunctionjì ránsince4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
一如既往phraseyī rú jì wǎng(idiom) just as in the past
既定verbjì dìngalready fixed
既往不咎phrasejì wǎng bù jiùto forget and not bear recriminations (idiom)
既是conjunctionjì shìis both ...(and...)
既有verbjì yǒuexisting
既得利益nounjì dé lì yìvested interest
既成事实nounjì chéng shì shífait accompli
既得期间jì dé qī jiānvesting period (in finance)
既有今日何必当初jì yǒu jīn rì hé bì dāng chūsee 早知今日何必當初|早知今日何必当初
既得adjectivejì dévested in
既而adverbjì érsoon after
既已jì yǐalready
既视感nounjì shì gǎndéjà vu
既来之,则安之jì lái zhī , zé ān zhīSince they have come, we should make them comfortable (idiom). Since we're here, take it easy.
既往nounjì wǎngpast
19
Total compounds
84
As first character
0
As last character
16
As middle character

既 appears in 19 compound words: 84 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 16 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 既 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

又yòu
0.4304,646 co-occurrences
有yǒu
0.39821,512 co-occurrences
矣yǐ
0.375372 co-occurrences
然rán
0.3695,641 co-occurrences
也yě
0.35529 co-occurrences
往wǎng
0.3382,612 co-occurrences
不bù
0.3388,466 co-occurrences
定dìng
0.3374,812 co-occurrences
没méi
0.3311,204 co-occurrences
溯sù
0.331248 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

既成事实jìchéng shìshíHSK 4+

established fact; accomplished fact; fait accompli

noun
既得利益jìdé lìyìHSK 5+

vested interest

noun
一如既往yīrújìwǎngHSK 4+

just as before; as always

phrase
不咎既往bùjiùjìwǎngHSK 4+

to let bygones be bygones

phrase
既往不咎jìwǎngbùjiùHSK 4+

to let bygones be bygones

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学习既字需要反复练习,才能写得工整。

xué xí jì zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .

Mastering the character "既" requires repeated practice to write it neatly.

CriMar 2026

学习手记|既要做显功,也要做潜功-国际在线

xué xí shǒu jì jì yāo zuò xiǎn gōng , yě yāo zuò qián gōng guó jì zài xiàn

Study Notes | Doing Both Visible and Invisible Work - China Radio International

The Beijing NewsMar 2026

非机动车上千万辆,既要管得住又要服务好

fēi jī dòng chē shàng qiān wàn liàng , jì yāo guǎn dé zhù yòu yāo fú wù hǎo

With tens of millions of non-motorized vehicles on the road, we must ensure effective management while providing quality service.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

提振消费:既要政策给力,也要改革发力

tí zhèn xiāo fèi : jì yāo zhèng cè gěi lì , yě yāo gǎi gé fā lì

Boost consumption: not only policies should be strong, but also reforms should be made

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...川普全球加征关税 郑丽君:巩固 ART 既有优惠

. . . chuān pǔ quán qiú jiā zhēng guān shuì zhèng lí jūn : gǒng gù A R T jì yǒu yōu huì

... Trump imposes tariffs globally Zheng Lijun: Consolidate ART's existing preferential treatment

LtnFeb 2026

美财长:与贸易夥伴联系 各国盼维持既有关税协议

měi cái cháng : yǔ mào yì 夥 bàn lián xì gè guó pàn wéi chí jì yǒu guān shuì xié yì

U.S. Treasury Secretary: Liaising with trading partners Countries hope to maintain existing tariff agreements

Tatoeba

玛莉既聪明又亲切。

Mǎ lì jì cōngming yòu qīnqiè.

Mary is both intelligent and kind.

Tatoeba

从这儿到澳大利亚大既要几小时呀?

Cóng zhèr dào àodàlìyà dà jì yào jǐ xiǎoshí ya?

About how many hours does it take to get to Australia from here?

Tatoeba

汤姆既彬彬有礼又善解人意。

Tāngmǔ jì bīnbīnyǒulǐ yòu shànjiěrényì.

Tom is polite and sensitive.

Tatoeba

无论外面多么寒冷,房间始终既舒适又温暖。

Wúlùn wàimiàn duōme hánlěng, fángjiān shǐzhōng jì shūshì yòu wēnnuǎn.

No matter how cold it is outside, the rooms are comfortably heated.

Character Family

无 Radical Family — Characters sharing the not radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced jì

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 既 (jì) mean in Chinese?
既 (jì) primarily means "already." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #724 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 既 have?
既 is written with 9 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 既?
The radical associated with 既 is 无 (not). This radical appears in many characters related to not.
What are the components of 既?
既 is composed of: 旡 (structural). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 既?
Common words with 既 include: 既然 (jì rán, "since"); 一如既往 (yī rú jì wǎng, "(idiom) just as in the past"); 既定 (jì dìng, "already fixed"); 既往不咎 (jì wǎng bù jiù, "to forget and not bear recriminations (idiom)"); 既是 (jì shì, "is both ...(and...)"). There are over 19 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 既 (jì)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jì: 机 (machine, opportunity), 己 (self), 几 (how many), 计 (to calculate), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 既 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 既 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 既 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.