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起意

Mandarin · pinyin qǐ yì

to conceive a scheme
to devise a plan

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Characters in this entry

起: qǐ · rise, stand up; go up; begin
意: yì · thought, idea, opinion; think

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4 · qi3 yi4

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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 · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hei2 ji3

Cantonese word readings for 起意. 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 hit upon an idea (usually an evil idea)

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

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