DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
契
Mandarin · pinyin qì
Meanings
- to carve
- carved words
- to agree
- a contract
- a deed
Characters in this entry
- 契
- qì · deed, contract, bond; engrave
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
4 · qi4
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
1character link45same-tone records
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.
Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
hat1 · kai2 · kai3 · kit3 · sit3
Cantonese word readings for 契. 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 · Etymology 1
- contract; deed
- to agree; to conform with; to tally with
- (literary) to carve; to engrave
- (literary) carved writing; engraved writing
- (Cantonese, Southern Min) adopted; adoptive; foster; sworn; nominal
- (Cantonese) to form a nominal kinship with; to adopt
character · Etymology 2
- only used in 契丹 (Qìdān, “the Khitans”)
character · Etymology 3
- Xie (ancestor of the kings of the Shang dynasty)
character · Etymology 4
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) used in 契闊／契阔 (qièkuò, “assiduous; separate; etc.”)
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of 挈 (“to take; to carry”)
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
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