乞 (qǐ): to beg
乞 (qǐ) is a Chinese character meaning “to beg.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 乙 (structural). It ranks #2351 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Definitions
- to beg
Stroke Order
Practice writing 乞 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 乞求verb | qǐ qiú | to beg |
| 乞丐noun | qǐ gài | beggar |
| 乞讨verb | qǐ tǎo | to beg |
| 乞怜verb | qǐ lián | to beg for pity |
| 乞力马扎罗山proper-noun | qǐ lì mǎ zhā luó shān | Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania |
| 行乞verb | xíng qǐ | to beg |
| 乞食verb | qǐ shí | to beg for food |
| 死乞白赖phrase | sǐ qi bái lài | to pester someone again and again |
| 乞人noun | qǐ rén | beggar |
| 乞和 | qǐ hé | to sue for peace |
| 乞儿noun | qǐ ér | beggar |
| 求乞verb | qiú qǐ | to beg |
| 乞哀告怜phrase | qǐ āi gào lián | begging for pity and asking for help (idiom) |
| 摇尾乞怜phrase | yáo wěi qǐ lián | lit. to behave like a dog wagging its tail, seeking its master's affection (idiom) |
| 讨乞verb | tǎo qǐ | to go begging |
乞 appears in 20 compound words: 70 as the first character, 15 as the last, and 15 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 乞 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (3)
Example Sentences
乞丐在街头乞讨。
Qǐgài zài jiētóu qǐtǎo.
Beggars beg on the streets.
游客走进馆内，体验“穿针乞巧”，在馆藏珍宝中感受“中式浪漫”。
yóu kè zǒu jìn guǎn nèi , tǐ yàn chuān zhēn qǐ qiǎo , zài guǎn zàng zhēn bǎo zhōng gǎn shòu zhōng shì làng màn .
Visitors step inside the museum to try their hand at the “threading the needle” custom and experience “Chinese romance” through the museum’s treasured collection.
（寻味中华｜节令）祈愿“生活之巧” 西和乞巧节歌声传千年
( xún wèi zhōng huá jié lìng ) qí yuàn shēng huó zhī qiǎo xī hé qǐ qiǎo jié gē shēng chuán qiān nián
(Tasting China | Seasonal Festivals) Praying for “The Art of Living”: Songs of the Qixiao Festival in Xihe Have Echoed Through the Millennia
这个续航，大部分智能表就算开启乞丐模式也做不到。
zhè gè xù háng , dà bù fēn zhì néng biǎo jiù suàn kāi qǐ qǐ gài mó shì yě zuò bù dào .
Most smartwatches can’t match this battery life, even when set to power-saving mode.
...龍池宮廟埕「全是錢」 價值800萬百龜供乞龜祈福
. . . 龍 chí 宮 廟 埕 quán shì 錢 價 zhí 萬 bǎi 龜 gōng qǐ 龜 qí fú
... The Longchi Palace Temple is "all money" worth 800 turtles for begging turtles to pray for blessings
他很富有，但活得像个乞丐。
Tā hěn fùyǒu, dàn huó de xiàng gè qǐgài.
He is rich yet he lives like a beggar.
我把身上的钱全都给了那个乞丐。
Wǒ bǎ shēnshang de qián quándōu gěi le nàge qǐgài.
I gave the beggar what money I had.
这名乞丐在收集干面包。
Zhè míng qǐgài zài shōují gàn miànbāo.
The beggar is collecting stale bread.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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What characters sound the same as 乞 (qǐ)?
Is 乞 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 乞 with real-time feedback
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