杞

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Chinese wolfberry shrub (Lycium chinense); willow

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Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

Phono-semantic compound (形声字)

木 meaning “tree” + 己 sound ( jǐ )

Components 木己

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
杞人忧天	Qǐ rén yōu tiān	(lit.) like the man of 杞[Qi3] who feared the sky would fall (idiom); (fig.) to entertain g…
杞国忧天	Qǐ guó yōu tiān	see 杞人憂天\|杞人忧天[Qi3 ren2 you1 tian1]
杞人之忧	Qǐ rén zhī yōu	(lit.) the fear held by a man of 杞[Qi3] that the sky would fall (idiom); (fig.) groundless…
杞国之忧	Qǐ guó zhī yōu	see 杞人之憂\|杞人之忧[Qi3 ren2 zhi1 you1]
杞天之虑	Qǐ tiān zhī lǜ	see 杞人之憂\|杞人之忧[Qi3 ren2 zhi1 you1]
杞县	Qǐ Xiàn	Qi County or Qixian, a county in Kaifeng City 開封市\|开封市[Kai1 feng1 Shi4], Henan
杞国	Qǐ guó	the State of Qǐ in modern Qǐ county 杞縣\|杞县, Henan (c. 1500-445 BC), a small vassal state of…
杞梓之林	qǐ zǐ zhī lín	(idiom) a multitude of talented people
柳杞	liǔ qǐ	willow
杞妇	Qǐ fù	the wife of 杞梁[Qi3 Liang2], a senior official of the state of Qi 杞[Qi3] who died on a mili…
枸杞子	gǒu qǐ zǐ	goji berry
枸杞	gǒu qǐ	wolfberry (Lycium chinense); genus Lycium

Characters sharing the sound component 己 — compare how they read.

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
己 sound part	jǐ	self, oneself; personal, private; 6th heavenly stem
起	qǐ	to begin, to initiate; to rise, to stand up
配	pèi	to blend, to mix; to fit, to match
纪	jì	discipline, age; period, era; record, annal
忌	jì	jealous, envious; to fear; to shun
岂	qǐ	what; how
芑	qǐ	white millet
圮	pǐ	destroyed, ruined; to injure; to subvert
屺	qǐ	a grassy knoll; a barren knoll