(): to arouse, to incite, to excite

() is a Chinese character meaning “to arouse.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #710 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, water. Its radical form (water) appears in many related characters such as (shuǐ, water), (hàn, Han ethnic group), (, steam).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to arouse
  2. to incite
  3. to excite

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵敫 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
adjective/verbjī dòngto move emotionally4
verbgǎn jīto be grateful6
verb/nouncì jīto provoke5
nounjī qíngpassion6
adjectivejī liè(of competition or fighting) intense5
verbjī lìto encourage6
nounbīng jī língice cream3
verbjī fāto arouse6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
jī guānglaser
jī nùto infuriate
jī huóto activate
jī jìnradical
jī sùhormone
gǎn jī bù jìncan't thank sb enough (idiom)
jī qǐto arouse
guò jīdrastic
jī zhànto fight fiercely
cí jī sùestrogen
jī liútorrent
piān jīextreme (usu. of thoughts, speech, circumstances)
jī zēngto increase rapidly
jī ángimpassioned
jī guāng qìlaser
89
Total compounds
51
As first character
11
As last character
38
As middle character

appears in 89 compound words: 51 as the first character, 11 as the last, and 38 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

liè
0.66193,224 co-occurrences
0.65983,948 co-occurrences
0.55011,782 co-occurrences
0.54718,156 co-occurrences
0.50834,872 co-occurrences
xiàn
0.4563,672 co-occurrences
kāng
0.4511,182 co-occurrences
guāng
0.44435,598 co-occurrences
0.4394,632 co-occurrences
huó
0.42532,586 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (9)

gǎnjībùjìnHSK 4+

can't thank (somebody) enough; to highly appreciate help provided by someone or something

phrase
gǎnjītìlíngHSK 7+

to shed tears of gratitude; to be overwhelmingly moved by another person's kindness

phrase
jīguāng chàngpiànHSK 4+

compact disc

noun
kāngkǎijī'ángHSK 7+

impassioned; vehement

phrase
nǎo lì jī dàngHSK 7+

to brainstorm

phrase
shēngzhǎng jīsùHSK 5+

growth hormone

noun
xióngxìng jīsùHSK 6+

androgen

noun

Showing 7 of 9 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

孩子们喜欢在清澈的边玩耍,捉小鱼小虾。

hái zǐ men xǐ huān zài qīng 澈 de jī biān wán shuǎ , zhuō xiǎo yú xiǎo xiā .

Children love to play along the clear, rushing riverbank, catching little fish and shrimp.

99 健康网Feb 2026

...小便完甩一下和性快感有关吗?尿道神经受刺产生愉悦感吗

. . . xiǎo biàn wán shuǎi yī xià hé xìng kuài gǎn yǒu guān ma ? niào dào shén jīng shòu cì jī chǎn shēng yú yuè gǎn ma

... Is peeing related to sexual pleasure? Does the urethral nerve produce a sense of pleasure when it is stimulated?

99 健康网Feb 2026

...甩一甩能预防包皮垢吗?减少尿液残留降低刺

. . . shuǎi yī shuǎi néng yù fáng bāo pí 垢 ma ? jiǎn shǎo niào yè cán liú jiàng dī cì jī ma

... Can a shake prevent smegma? Reduces urine residue and reduces irritation

Fx168 Finance NetworkFeb 2026

...黄金?30万盎司减持背后 中俄贵金属贸易增80%-FX168

. . . huáng jīn ? 3 0 wàn 盎 sī jiǎn chí bèi hòu zhōng é guì jīn shǔ mào yì jī zēng 8 0 F X 1 6 8

... Behind the reduction of gold? 300,000 ounces of precious metals trade between China and Russia surged by 80%-FX168

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

...西洪洞大槐树:家庭亲子游成主流 根祖文化活年俗新体验

. . . xī hóng dòng dà huái shù : jiā tíng qīn zǐ yóu chéng zhǔ liú gēn zǔ wén huà jī huó nián sú xīn tǐ yàn

... Xihongdong Big Locust Tree: Family parent-child travel has become the mainstream, and the ancestral culture activates a new experience of New Year's customs

LtnFeb 2026

烈4轮PK决胜 彰化慈航宫年度总斗首出炉

jī liè 4 lún P K jué shèng zhāng huà cí háng gōng nián dù zǒng dǒu shǒu chū lú

Fierce 4 rounds of PK decisive Changhua Cihang Palace's annual general fight was released

Tatoeba

总理的发言估计怒了在野党。

Zǒnglǐ de fāyán gūjì jīnù le zàiyědǎng.

The Prime Minister's speech was calculated to anger the opposition parties.

Tatoeba

我必须停止吃那么甜的冰凌。

Wǒ bìxū tíngzhǐ chī nàme tián de bīngjīlíng.

I've got to stop eating such sweet ice cream.

Tatoeba

我想要冰淋作甜点。

Wǒ xiǎngyào bīngjīlín zuò tiándiǎn.

I want ice cream for dessert.

Tatoeba

分享情,就是完全沉浸在里面。

Fēnxiǎng jīqíng, jiùshì wánquán chénjìn zài lǐmiàn.

To share one's passion is to live it fully.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 激 (jī) mean in Chinese?
激 (jī) primarily means "to arouse." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #710 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 激 and 邀?
激 (jī) and 邀 (yāo) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 氵 vs 辶 (same 敫 component).
How many strokes does 激 have?
激 is written with 16 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 激?
The radical associated with 激 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 激?
激 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 敫 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵敫 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 激?
Common words with 激 include: 激动 (jī dòng, "to move emotionally"); 感激 (gǎn jī, "to be grateful"); 刺激 (cì jī, "to provoke"); 激情 (jī qíng, "passion"); 激烈 (jī liè, "(of competition or fighting) intense"). There are over 89 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 激 (jī)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jī: 机 (machine, opportunity), 鸡 (chicken), 级 (level, grade), 急 (urgent), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 激 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 激 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.