栖 (qī): to perch, to rest (of birds), to dwell

栖 (qī) is a Chinese character meaning “to perch.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (semantic) and 西 (phonetic). It ranks #2377 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 栖 tree. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to perch
  2. to rest (of birds)
  3. to dwell

Etymology & Origin

栖

pictophonetictree

Decomposition: ⿰木西 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
栖身verbqī shēnto stay at
栖息地nounqī xī dìhabitat
栖息verbqī xī(of a bird) to perch
两栖verbliǎng qīamphibious
两栖动物nounliǎng qī dòng wùamphibian
隐栖动物学yǐn qī dòng wù xuécryptozoology
底栖生物dǐ qī shēng wùbenthic organism
两栖类liǎng qī lèiclass Amphibia
偏利共栖piān lì gòng qī(biology) to have a commensal relationship with (another organism)
底栖有孔虫dǐ qī yǒu kǒng chóngbenthic foraminifera
良禽择木而栖proverbliáng qín zé mù ér qīa fine bird chooses a tree to nest in (proverb)
栖地nounqī dìhabitat
水栖shuǐ qīaquatic
双栖双宿shuāng qī shuāng sùsee 雙宿雙飛|双宿双飞
栖住qī zhùto dwell
25
Total compounds
48
As first character
28
As last character
24
As middle character

栖 appears in 25 compound words: 48 as the first character, 28 as the last, and 24 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 栖 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

息xī
0.55616,411 co-occurrences
霞xiá
0.5521,508 co-occurrences
鸟niǎo
0.5272,167 co-occurrences
雁yàn
0.522266 co-occurrences
爬pá
0.465464 co-occurrences
两liǎng
0.4244,560 co-occurrences
浅qiǎn
0.409262 co-occurrences
舰jiàn
0.402499 co-occurrences
凤fèng
0.399364 co-occurrences
地dì
0.3937,832 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

底栖生物dǐ qī shēng wùHSK 7+

benthic organism

phrase
两栖动物liǎngqī dòngwùHSK 7+

amphibian

noun
双栖双宿shuāng qī shuāng sùHSK 7+

see 雙宿雙飛|双宿双飞

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

爷爷在门前种了一棵栖苗,现在已经长得很高了。

yé yé zài mén qián zhǒng le yī kē qī miáo , xiàn zài yǐ jīng cháng dé hěn gāo le .

Grandpa planted a quince tree by the door, and now it has grown very tall.

The Beijing NewsApr 2026

雁栖湖上新“山水飞花令”,游客假日玩转5项手...

yàn qī hú shàng xīn shān shuǐ fēi huā lìng , yóu kè jiǎ rì wán zhuǎn 5 xiàng shǒu . . .

Yanqi Lake Launches New "Landscape and Flower Rhyme" Event; Visitors Enjoy Five Activities During the Holiday...

BastillepostMar 2026

...以对伊朗军事行动踏入第二个月 美军增派两栖攻击舰到中东

. . . yǐ duì yī lǎng jūn shì háng dòng tà rù dì èr gè yuè měi jūn zēng pài liǎng qī gōng jī jiàn dào zhōng dōng

...As military operations in Iran enter their second month, the U.S. military has deployed an amphibious assault ship to the Middle East

東方日報Mar 2026

的黎波里号两栖攻击舰 已抵美军中央司令部责任区

de lí bō lǐ hào liǎng qī gōng jī jiàn yǐ dǐ měi jūn zhōng yāng sī lìng bù zé rèn qū

The amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli has arrived in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility

LtnMar 2026

两栖攻击舰拳师号领军出动 美增派数千部队赶赴...

liǎng qī gōng jī jiàn quán shī hào lǐng jūn chū dòng měi zēng pài shǔ qiān bù duì gǎn fù . . .

The amphibious assault ship USS Boxer leads the deployment as the U.S. sends thousands of additional troops to...

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Mar 2026

广东珍稀濒危鸟类种群有所扩大 栖息地进一步改善

guǎng dōng zhēn xī bīn wēi niǎo lèi zhǒng qún yǒu suǒ kuò dà qī xī dì jìn yī bù gǎi shàn

Populations of rare and endangered bird species in Guangdong have expanded, and their habitats have improved further

Tatoeba

鹅是一种水栖鸟类。

é shì yīzhǒng shuǐqī niǎolèi.

The goose is a waterfowl.

Tatoeba

良禽择木而栖,贤臣择主而事。

Liángqínzémù'érqī, xián chén zé zhǔ ér shì.

A prudent bird chooses its tree. A wise servant chooses his master.

Tatoeba

那鱼栖息在淡水域中。

Nà yú qīxī zài dànshuǐ yù zhōng.

That fish lives in fresh water.

Tatoeba

蓝色的鸟栖息在树枝上,兴致昂扬地唱着歌。

Lánsè de niǎo qīxī zài shùzhī shàng, xìngzhì ángyáng de chàng zhe gē.

The blue bird is perched on a branch, singing cheerfully.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 木 (tree) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced qī

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 栖 (qī) mean in Chinese?
栖 (qī) primarily means "to perch." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2377 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 栖 and 牺?
栖 (qī) and 牺 (xī) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 木 vs 牛 (same 西 component).
How many strokes does 栖 have?
栖 is written with 10 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 栖?
The radical associated with 栖 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 栖?
栖 is composed of: 木 (semantic), 西 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰木西 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 栖?
Common words with 栖 include: 栖身 (qī shēn, "to stay at"); 栖息地 (qī xī dì, "habitat"); 栖息 (qī xī, "(of a bird) to perch"); 两栖 (liǎng qī, "amphibious"); 两栖动物 (liǎng qī dòng wù, "amphibian"). There are over 25 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 栖 (qī)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qī: 起 (to rise), 其 (his), 气 (gas), 期 (period, expect), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 栖 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 栖 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 栖 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.