DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

起家

Mandarin · pinyin qǐ jiā

to start out by
to grow an enterprise beginning with
to begin one's career by

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Characters in this entry

起: qǐ · rise, stand up; go up; begin
家: jiā · house, home, residence; family

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–1 · qi3 jia1

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hei2 gaa1

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

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

verb

to make one’s family prosper and establish a competency; to build up; to grow and thrive; to make one's fortune, name, etc.
(archaic, of a peasant) to be promoted to official

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

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