起
Tap the pinyin to hear it
to rise; to raise; to get up; to set out; to start; to appear; to launch; to initiate (action); to draft; to establish; to get (from a depot or counter); verb suffix, to start; starting from (a time, place, price etc); classifier for occurrences or unpredictable events: case, instance; classifier for groups: batch, group
- HSK 3.0
- Level 1
- Old HSK
- Level 1
- Strokes
- 10
- Radical
- 走 +3
- Structure
- Lower-left enclosure 左下包
- Traditional
- 起
- Common rank
- #196
- Unicode
- U+8D77
Sound it out + =
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
Words with 起
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 一起 | (in) the same place; together; in company (with); altogether; in total; an instance of; a … | |
| 对不起 | I'm sorry; excuse me; I beg your pardon; to let (sb) down; to disappoint | |
| 起来 | to stand up; to get up; also pr. [qi3lai2] | |
| 起来 | (after a verb) indicating the beginning and continuation of an action or a state; indicati… | |
| 起床 | to get out of bed; to get up | |
| 风生水起 | lit. a breeze springs up and creates waves on the water (idiom); fig. flourishing; thrivin… | |
| 白手起家 | (idiom) to build up from nothing; to start from scratch | |
| 平地起家 | to start from scratch (idiom) | |
| 不起眼儿 | erhua variant of 不起眼[bu4 qi3 yan3] | |
| 一病不起 | to fall gravely ill, never to recover (idiom) | |
| 起小儿 | erhua variant of 起小[qi3 xiao3] | |
| 发起人 | proposer; initiator; founding member | |
| 起电机 | electrostatic generator | |
| 不起眼 | unremarkable; nothing out of the ordinary | |
| 起子 | baking soda (used to leaven bread); screwdriver; bottle opener | |
| 起头 | to start; at first; beginning | |
| 太平天国起义 | Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864), a massive rebellion in southern China against the Qing Dyna… | |
| 经不起 | can't stand it; to be unable to bear; to be unable to resist | |
| 起重机 | crane | |
| 起小 | since childhood |
Sound family
Characters sharing the sound component 己 — compare how they read.
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 己 sound part | self, oneself; personal, private; 6th heavenly stem | |
| 配 | to blend, to mix; to fit, to match | |
| 纪 | discipline, age; period, era; record, annal | |
| 忌 | jealous, envious; to fear; to shun | |
| 杞 | willow, medlar tree; a small feudal state | |
| 岂 | what; how | |
| 芑 | white millet | |
| 圮 | destroyed, ruined; to injure; to subvert | |
| 屺 | a grassy knoll; a barren knoll |