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起飛

简起飞 · 繁起飛

Mandarin · pinyin qǐ fēi

(of an aircraft or rocket) to take off; to lift off
(fig.) (of an enterprise etc) to start to develop rapidly

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Characters in this entry

起: qǐ · rise, stand up; go up; begin
飛: Look up this written character
飞: fēi · fly; go quickly; dart; high

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

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Mandarin tones

3–1 · qi3 fei1

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2character links1same-tone record

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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.

起飛 · find source passages ↗ · 起飞 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 3 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hei2 fei1

Cantonese word readings for 起飛. 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

(of an aircraft etc.) to take off; to depart
(figurative) to take off; to bloom; to flourish; to grow
(euphemistic, informal, of a male) to beat off; to masturbate

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

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