期 (qī): period, expect

期 (qī) is a Chinese character meaning “period, expect.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 其 (phonetic) and 月 (semantic). It ranks #253 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 期 moon. Its radical form 月 (moon) appears in many related characters such as 月 (yuè, moon, month), 有 (yǒu, to have), 朋 (péng, friend).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. period, expect

Etymology & Origin

期

pictophoneticmoon

Decomposition: ⿰其月 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 期

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
星期nounxīng qīweek1
期待verbqī dàito look forward to5
期望verbqī wàngto have expectations6
期间nounqī jiānperiod of time5
时期nounshí qīperiod5
假期nounjià qīvacation3
日期nounrì qīdate4
星期天nounxīng qī tiānSunday1
长期noun/adjectivecháng qīlong-term5
学期nounxué qīterm3
早期nounzǎo qīearly period5
预期verbyù qīto expect6
期限nounqī xiàntime limit6
青春期nounqīng chūn qīpuberty6
过期verbguò qīto be overdue5
延期verbyán qīto delay6
短期noun/adjectiveduǎn qīshort-term5
到期verbdào qīto fall due (loan etc)5
期末nounqī mòthe end of a term or semester (in school)4
定期verb/adjectivedìng qīat set dates5
近期nounjìn qīnear in time5
周期nounzhōu qīperiod6
星期日nounxīng qī rìSunday1
初期nounchū qīinitial stage5
后期nounhòu qīlate stage6
中期nounzhōng qīmiddle (of a period of time)5
期中nounqī zhōnginterim4
前期nounqián qīpreceding period6
为期verbwéi qī(to be done) by (a certain date)6
保质期nounbǎo zhì qīshelf life5
分期verbfēn qīby stages6
116
Total compounds
16
As first character
76
As last character
9
As middle character

期 appears in 116 compound words: 16 as the first character, 76 as the last, and 9 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 期 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

早zǎo
0.590163,674 co-occurrences
间jiān
0.584229,550 co-occurrences
逢féng
0.52730,502 co-occurrences
日rì
0.507661,810 co-occurrences
时shí
0.499209,846 co-occurrences
初chū
0.497113,978 co-occurrences
星xīng
0.463258,148 co-occurrences
播bō
0.458101,636 co-occurrences
逝shì
0.44832,542 co-occurrences
末mò
0.44135,514 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (12)

不期而遇bùqī'éryùHSK 3+

to meet unexpectedly or by chance; to have a chance encounter

noun
定期存款dìngqī cúnkuǎnHSK 5+

time deposit

noun
分期付款fēnqī fùkuǎnHSK 5+

to pay in installments; installment plan (for a purchase)

verbnoun
过渡时期guò dù shí qīHSK 6+

transition period

phrase
后会有期hòu huì yǒu qīHSK 1+

I'm sure we'll meet again some day. (idiom); Hope to see you again.

phrase
活期存款huóqī cúnkuǎnHSK 5+

demand deposit

noun
期期艾艾qīqī'ài'àiHSK 7+

stammering

phrase
暑期学校shǔqī xuéxiàoHSK 4+

summer school

noun
无期徒刑wúqī túxíngHSK 7+

life sentence

noun
细胞周期xìbāo zhōuqīHSK 6+

cell cycle

noun
遥遥无期yáoyáowúqīHSK 6+

far away in time and not within the foreseeable future

phrase
有期徒刑yǒuqī túxíngHSK 7+

imprisonment of limited duration

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

项目预计在下个月底完成,目前进度正常。

Xiàngmù yùjì zài xià gè yuè dǐ wánchéng, mùqián jìndù zhèngcháng.

The project is expected to be completed by the end of next month; current progress is normal.

百度新闻Feb 2026

上观时评|“马上”体祝福里的民生期盼·新世说

shàng guàn shí píng mǎ shàng tǐ zhù fú lǐ de mín shēng qī pàn xīn shì shuō

Shangguan Commentary|" Immediately, "the people's livelihood expectations in the blessing of the new world said

百度新闻Feb 2026

...的新年“特供”丨订单翻倍!小碗梨成春节假期“新宠..

. . . de xīn nián tè gōng 丨 dìng shàn fān bèi ! xiǎo wǎn lí chéng chūn jié jiǎ qī xīn chǒng . .

... The new year's "special" 丨 order doubled!

百度新闻Feb 2026

春节假期拍了拍你,出门揣一份“安心”更踏实

chūn jié jiǎ qī pāi le pāi nǐ , chū mén chuāi yī fèn ān xīn gēng tà shí

Spring Festival vacation pat you, go out and put a "peace of mind" more solid

百度新闻Feb 2026

春节假期首日北京市属公园接待游客20.95万人次...

chūn jié jiǎ qī shǒu rì běi jīng shì shǔ gōng yuán jiē dāi yóu kè . mò rén cì . . .

On the first day of the Spring Festival holiday, Beijing's municipal parks welcomed 209,500 visitors...

百度新闻Feb 2026

新春走基层|最长假期开启:从“赶路”到“享受路”,..

xīn chūn zǒu jī céng zuì cháng jiǎ qī kāi qǐ cóng gǎn lù dào xiǎng shòu lù , . .

Spring Festival Grassroots Report | Longest Holiday Begins: From "Rushing to Destination" to "Savoring the Journey"...

Tatoeba

你星期六要上学吗?

Nǐ Xīngqīliù yào shàngxué ma?

Do you have school on Saturdays?

Tatoeba

你星期天都做什么?

Nǐ Xīngqītiān dōu zuò shénme?

What do you do on Sundays?

Tatoeba

你这个星期一直在做什么?

Nǐ zhège Xīngqīyī zhí zài zuò shénme?

What have you been doing this week?

Tatoeba

今年中秋节是星期一吗?

Jīnnián Zhōngqiūjié shì Xīngqīyī ma?

Is the mid-autumn festival on Monday this year?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 月 (moon) component

月 Radical Family — Characters sharing the moon radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced qī

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 期 (qī) mean in Chinese?
期 (qī) primarily means "period, expect." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #253 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 期 and 基?
期 (qī) and 基 (jī) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 月 vs 土 (same 其 component).
How many strokes does 期 have?
期 is written with 12 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 期?
The radical associated with 期 is 月 (moon). This radical appears in many characters related to moon.
What are the components of 期?
期 is composed of: 其 (phonetic), 月 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰其月 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 期?
Common words with 期 include: 星期 (xīng qī, "week"); 期待 (qī dài, "to look forward to"); 期望 (qī wàng, "to have expectations"); 期间 (qī jiān, "period of time"); 时期 (shí qī, "period"). There are over 116 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 期 (qī)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qī: 欺 (to take unfair advantage of), 起 (to rise), 其 (his), 气 (gas), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 期 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 期 and the traditional form is 朞.

Practice writing 期 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.