饥 (jī): (bound form) hungry
饥 (jī) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) hungry.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 饣 (semantic) and 几 (phonetic). It ranks #2125 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 饥 food. Its radical form 饣 (eat) appears in many related characters such as 饭 (fàn, meal, rice), 饿 (è, hungry), 馆 (guǎn, restaurant, hall).
Definitions
- (bound form) hungry
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 饥 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 饥
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 饥渴 | jī kě | hungry and thirsty |
| 饥荒 | jī huāng | crop failure |
| 饥肠辘辘 | jī cháng lù lù | (idiom) stomach rumbling with hunger |
| 如饥似渴 | rú jī sì kě | to hunger for sth (idiom) |
| 饥寒交迫 | jī hán jiāo pò | beset by hunger and cold (idiom) |
| 充饥 | chōng jī | to allay one's hunger |
| 画饼充饥 | huà bǐng chōng jī | lit. to allay one's hunger using a picture of a cake |
| 饱人不知饿人饥 | bǎo rén bù zhī è rén jī | The well-fed cannot know how the starving suffer (idiom). |
| 饥不择食 | jī bù zé shí | when hungry, you can't pick what you eat (idiom) |
| 饱汉不知饿汉饥 | bǎo hàn bù zhī è hàn jī | The well-fed cannot know how the starving suffer (idiom). |
| 积谷防饥 | jī gǔ fáng jī | storing grain against a famine |
| 易饥症 | yì jī zhèng | bulimia |
| 饱暖思淫欲，饥寒起盗心 | bǎo nuǎn sī yín yù , jī hán qǐ dào xīn | lechery springs from warmth and nourishment, kleptomania springs from hunger and cold (idiom) |
| 充饥止渴 | chōng jī zhǐ kě | to allay one's hunger and slake one's thirst (idiom) |
| 啼饥号寒 | tí jī háo hán | hunger cries and cold roars (idiom) |
饥 appears in 20 compound words: 35 as the first character, 30 as the last, and 35 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 饥 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (10)
to feed on illusions; (of something attractive-looking) to be of no actual use; like a pie in the sky
to be not choosy when one is hungry or when matters are urgent; beggars can't be choosers
to feed on illusions; (of something attractive-looking) to be of no actual use; like a pie in the sky
to be not choosy when one is hungry or when matters are urgent; beggars can't be choosers
Showing 9 of 10 idioms containing 饥.
Example Sentences
他饥了，走进一家小餐馆点了碗面。
tā jī le , zǒu jìn yī jiā xiǎo cān guǎn diǎn le wǎn miàn .
He was hungry, so he walked into a small restaurant and ordered a bowl of noodles.
伊朗战争|化肥短缺威胁粮食安全 饥饿人口恐创新高
yī lǎng zhàn zhēng huà féi duǎn quē wēi xié liáng shí ān quán jī è rén kǒu kǒng chuàng xīn gāo
成军24年5566参演《饥饿游戏》 意外“撞车”跌倒惨被嘲“碰瓷”
chéng jūn 2 4 nián 5 5 6 6 cān yǎn jī è yóu xì yì wài zhuàng chē diē dǎo cǎn bèi cháo pèng cí
After 24 Years in the Industry, 5566 Appears in *The Hunger Games*; Unexpected "Collision" Leads to Fall, Sparking Ridicule Over "Staged Accident"
你尝过真正饥饿的滋味吗？
Nǐ cháng guo zhēnzhèng jī'è de zīwèi ma?
Do you know what it is like to be really hungry?
你这样就是画饼充饥！
Nǐ zhèyàng jiùshì huàbǐngchōngjī!
You're just comforting yourself with a fantasy!
许多工人死于饥饿。
Xǔduō gōngrén sǐyú jī'è.
Many of the workers died of hunger.
在非洲有许多孩子死于饥饿。
Zài Fēizhōu yǒu xǔduō háizi sǐ yú jī'è.
Many children die of starvation in Africa.
饥饿的婴儿只是哭。
Jī'è de yīng'ér zhǐshì kū.
The hungry baby did nothing but cry.
每年有几百万人死于饥饿。
Měinián yǒu jǐ bǎiwàn rén sǐ yú jī'è.
Millions of people die of hunger each year.
难民与饥饿作斗争。
Nànmín yǔ jī'è zuò dòuzhēng.
The refugees struggled against hunger.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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What characters sound the same as 饥 (jī)?
Is 饥 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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