祁 (qí): surname Qi, large, vast

祁 (qí) is a Chinese character meaning “large.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 礻 (semantic) and 阝 (phonetic). It ranks #5152 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 祁 spirit. Its radical form 礻 (spirit) appears in many related characters such as 票 (piào, ticket), 社 (shè, (bound form) society), 禁 (jìn, to prohibit).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. surname Qi
  2. large
  3. vast

Etymology & Origin

祁

pictophoneticspirit

Decomposition: ⿰礻阝 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
无支祁wú zhī qía water goblin in Chinese mythology usually depicted as a monkey
祁连山qí lián shānQilian Mountains in Qinghai
祁连山脉qí lián shān màiQilian Mountains (formerly Richthofen Range), dividing Qinghai and Gansu provinces
祁阳市qí yáng shìQiyang, a county-level city in Yongzhou City 永州市, Hunan
祁东县qí dōng xiànQidong, a county in Hengyang City 衡陽市|衡阳市, Hunan
祁门县qí mén xiànQimen, a county in Huangshan City 黃山市|黄山市, Anhui
祁连县qí lián xiànQilian, a county in Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 海北藏族自治州, Qinghai
祁东qí dōngsee 祁東縣|祁东县
祁门qí ménsee 祁門縣|祁门县
祁连proper-nounqí liánsee 祁連縣|祁连县
朱祁镇zhū qí zhènZhu Qizhen, personal name of sixth and eighth Ming emperor Zhengtong 正統|正统, afterwards Tianshun Emperor...
祁阳proper-nounqí yángsee 祁陽市|祁阳市
祁奚之荐qí xī zhī jiànQi Xi's recommendation (idiom)
祁县proper-nounqí xiànQi County or Qixian, a county in Jinzhong City 晉中市|晋中市, Shanxi
宋祁sòng qíSong Qi (998-1061), Song dynasty poet and writer, coauthor of History of the Later Tang Dynasty 新唐書|新唐书
17
Total compounds
76
As first character
12
As last character
12
As middle character

祁 appears in 17 compound words: 76 as the first character, 12 as the last, and 12 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·文化Oct 2026

山西祁县:国庆假期“沉浸式”文旅让晋商文化可感可触

shān xī qí xiàn : guó qìng jiǎ qī chén jìn shì wén lǚ ràng jìn shāng wén huà kě gǎn kě chù

Qi County, Shanxi: “Immersive” Cultural and Tourism Experiences During the National Day Holiday Bring Jin Merchants’ Culture to Life

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

高旭澎是山西祁县人,祖辈走西口的记忆还在家族里传着。

gāo xù péng shì shān xī qí xiàn rén , zǔ bèi zǒu xī kǒu de jì yì hái zài jiā zú lǐ chuán zhe .

Gao Xupeng is from Qi County, Shanxi; memories of his ancestors’ journey “Westward” are still passed down within the family.

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

在黄山市祁门县,一盏好茶的风味,正等待一场“夜露”的浸润。

zài huáng shān shì qí mén xiàn , yī zhǎn hǎo chá de fēng wèi , zhèng děng dài yī chǎng yè lù de jìn rùn .

In Qimen County, Huangshan City, the flavor of a fine tea awaits the nourishment of the “night dew.”

中国新闻网·体育Aug 2026

退役后工作多年的祁蓉如今以业余球员身份重回赛场,成为队内的中流砥柱。

tuì yì hòu gōng zuò duō nián de qí róng rú jīn yǐ yè yú qiú yuán shēn fèn chóng huí sài chǎng , chéng wéi duì nèi de zhōng liú 砥 zhù .

Qi Rong, who worked for many years after retiring from professional sports, has now returned to the field as an amateur player and has become a key player on the team.

中国新闻网·体育Aug 2026

河南县委副书记、县长祁小青现场向全国游客发出诚挚邀约。

hé nán xiàn wěi fù shū jì , xiàn cháng qí xiǎo qīng xiàn chǎng xiàng quán guó yóu kè fā chū chéng zhì yāo yuē .

Qi Xiaoqing, Deputy Secretary of the Henan County Party Committee and County Governor, extended a sincere invitation to tourists from across the country right there on the spot.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 礻 (spirit) component

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 祁 (qí) mean in Chinese?
祁 (qí) primarily means "large." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #5152 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 祁 and 耶?
祁 (qí) and 耶 (yē) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 礻 vs 耳 (same 阝 component).
How many strokes does 祁 have?
祁 is written with 6 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 祁?
The radical associated with 祁 is 礻 (spirit). This radical appears in many characters related to spirit.
What are the components of 祁?
祁 is composed of: 礻 (semantic), 阝 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰礻阝 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 祁?
Common words with 祁 include: 无支祁 (wú zhī qí, "a water goblin in Chinese mythology usually depicted as a monkey"); 祁连山 (qí lián shān, "Qilian Mountains in Qinghai"); 祁连山脉 (qí lián shān mài, "Qilian Mountains (formerly Richthofen Range), dividing Qinghai and Gansu provinces"); 祁阳市 (qí yáng shì, "Qiyang, a county-level city in Yongzhou City 永州市, Hunan"); 祁东县 (qí dōng xiàn, "Qidong, a county in Hengyang City 衡陽市|衡阳市, Hunan"). There are over 17 compound words containing this character.
Is 祁 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 祁 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 祁 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.