小氣

简 小气 · 繁 小氣
Mandarin · pinyin xiǎo qì

Meanings

  1. stingy
  2. miserly
  3. narrow-minded
  4. petty
Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

小
xiǎo · small, tiny, insignificant
氣
qì · air, gas, steam, vapor; spirit
气
qì · steam, vapor; Kangxi radical 84
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

3–4 · xiao3 qi4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

3character links1same-tone record
Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

小氣 · find source passages ↗ · 小气 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

siu2 hei3

Cantonese word readings for 小氣. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

adj

  1. stingy; miserly
  2. narrow-minded; petty

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack