起 (qǐ): to rise, to raise, to get up
起 (qǐ) is a Chinese character meaning “to rise.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 走 (semantic) and 己 (phonetic). It ranks #75 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 起 walk. Its radical form 走 (walk) appears in many related characters such as 走 (zǒu, to walk), 超 (chāo, to exceed), 越 (yuè, generic word for peoples or states of south China or south Asia at different historical periods).
Definitions
- to rise
- to raise
- to get up
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
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Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 起
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 起来verb | qǐ lai | to stand up | 2 |
| 一起adverb | yī qǐ | (in) the same place | 2 |
| 对不起verb | duì bu qǐ | I'm sorry | 1 |
| 引起verb | yǐn qǐ | to give rise to | 4 |
| 了不起adjective | liǎo bu qǐ | amazing | 5 |
| 起床verb | qǐ chuáng | to get out of bed | 1 |
| 起飞verb | qǐ fēi | (of an aircraft or rocket) to take off | 3 |
| 提起verb | tí qǐ | to mention | 5 |
| 起初noun | qǐ chū | originally | 6 |
| 发起verb | fā qǐ | to originate | 5 |
| 起点noun | qǐ diǎn | starting point | 6 |
| 起源verb/noun | qǐ yuán | origin | 6 |
| 兴起verb | xīng qǐ | to rise | 6 |
| 看不起verb | kàn bu qǐ | to look down upon | 6 |
| 起到verb | qǐ dào | (in an expression of the form 起到 + … + 作用) to have (a (motivating etc) effect) | 4 |
| 看得起verb | kàn de qǐ | to show respect for | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 想起verb | xiǎng qǐ | to recall |
| 起诉verb | qǐ sù | to sue |
| 起码adjective | qǐ mǎ | at the minimum |
| 看起来 | kàn qǐ lai | seemingly |
| 起立verb | qǐ lì | to stand |
| 挑起verb | tiǎo qǐ | to provoke |
| 升起verb | shēng qǐ | to raise |
| 举起verb | jǔ qǐ | to heave |
| 起火verb | qǐ huǒ | to catch fire |
| 起见noun | qǐ jiàn | motive |
| 响起 | xiǎng qǐ | (of a sound) to come forth |
| 起誓verb | qǐ shì | to vow |
| 早起adverb | zǎo qǐ | to get up early |
| 起草verb | qǐ cǎo | to make a draft |
| 起伏verb | qǐ fú | to move up and down |
起 appears in 115 compound words: 45 as the first character, 50 as the last, and 4 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 起 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (36)
synonym of 此起彼落 (cǐqǐbǐluò, “(of sounds) rising and falling; continuous; unceasing”)
(of market prices etc) to rapidly fluctuate (idiom); volatile; significant ups and downs
lit. wind rises, tide bubbles up; turbulent times; violent development (idiom)
to surge like a gathering storm (idiom); to grow by leaps and bounds
each new high point replaced by another; (of a movie etc) one climax after another
Showing 12 of 36 idioms containing 起.
Example Sentences
这个故事引起了很多人的共鸣，大家纷纷留言分享自己的经历。
Zhè gè gùshi yǐnqǐ le hěn duō rén de gòngmíng, dàjiā fēnfēn liúyán fēnxiǎng zìjǐ de jīnglì.
This story resonated with many people, and everyone left comments sharing their own experiences.
福建女孩扶起骑车摔倒老人 遭索赔人民币22万缠讼近1...
fú jiàn nǚ hái fú qǐ qí chē shuāi dǎo lǎo rén zāo suǒ péi rén mín bì 2 2 wàn chán sòng jìn 1 . . .
Fujian girl helped up and fell on a bicycle and fell down an old man and was sued for RMB 220,000 and nearly 1...
制药设备热起来 皇将开年营收就翻倍成长
zhì yào shè bèi rè qǐ lái huáng jiāng kāi nián yíng shōu jiù fān bèi chéng cháng
Pharmaceutical equipment is heating up, and the revenue of the emperor will double at the beginning of the year
与沈腾马丽一起“搭戏”的机器人,还藏着这样的技术突..
yú 沈 téng mǎ lí yī qǐ dā xì de jī qì rén , hái zàng zhe zhè yàng de jì shù tū . .
The robot acting alongside Shen Teng and Ma Li also hides such technological breakthroughs...
3000株蝴蝶兰凑在一起干什么?世界花卉大观园新春..
zhū 蝴 蝶 lán còu zài yī qǐ gān shén má ? shì jiè huā huì dà guàn yuán xīn chūn . .
What's the point of gathering 3,000 Phalaenopsis orchids together? World Floral Expo Spring Festival...
7500人闹社火、品尝汉代美食,一起解锁新年最潮打..
rén nào shè huǒ pǐn cháng hàn dài měi shí , yī qǐ xiè suǒ xīn nián zuì cháo dǎ . .
7,500 people celebrate with traditional folk performances and sample Han Dynasty cuisine, unlocking the trendiest New Year activities together.
你不和我一起喝点茶吗？
Nǐ bù hé wǒ yīqǐ hē diǎn chá ma?
Won't you have some tea with me?
你能举起这块石头吗？
Nǐ néng jǔqǐ zhè kuài shítou ma?
Can you lift this stone?
你什么时候起来了？
Nǐ shénmeshíhou qǐlai le?
When did you get up?
我可以和家人一起来吗？
Wǒ kěyǐ hé jiārén yīqǐ lái ma?
May I bring my family along?
Character Family
走 Radical Family — Characters sharing the walk radical
Frequently Asked Questions
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What are common words containing 起?
What characters sound the same as 起 (qǐ)?
Is 起 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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