DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

起

Mandarin · pinyin qǐ

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

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Characters in this entry

起: qǐ · rise, stand up; go up; begin

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

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Mandarin tones

3 · qi3

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Connected dictionary

1character link33same-tone records

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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 · 18 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hei2

Cantonese word readings for 起. 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.

character

to rise; to go up; to move up
to stand up; to rise
to break out; to grow
to start; to begin; to become; to take
to initiate; to instigate; to trigger off
(dialectal Mandarin, Cantonese, Gan, Hakka, Min, Pinghua, Wu, Xiang) to construct; to build
to prepare; to draw up; to come up with
to extract; to pull out; to remove
(Hokkien, Teochew) to board; to get on (a vehicle)
(in 從/由……起 structures) from
and above; at least; from
particle placed after a verb to indicate upward movement; ... up
particle placed after a verb to indicate the beginning of a continued action
(in potential complements) up to a certain standard; to be able to stand or afford
particle placed after a verb to indicate the involvement of a person or thing in the action
(Cantonese) particle placed after a verb to indicate the completion of an action
Classifier for incidents and legal cases.
Classifier for batches or groups.

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

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