豈

简 岂 · 繁 豈
Mandarin · pinyin kǎi#

Meanings · kǎi

  1. old variant of 愷 kǎi
  2. old variant of 凱 kǎi
Mandarin · pinyin qǐ#

Meanings · qǐ

  1. how? (emphatic question)
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Characters in this entry

豈
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岂
qǐ · how? what?
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3 · kai3

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1character link22same-tone records3source references
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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.

豈 · find source passages ↗ · 岂 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hei2 · hoi2

Cantonese word readings for 豈. 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

  1. (literary, rhetorical question) how; how can it be that (used in rhetorical questions)
  2. (dated) possibly; perhaps (modal particle indicating tentativeness)

character · Etymology 1

  1. (Teochew) Interrogative adverb in yes-no questions.

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

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