ชี

Thai

Buddhist female lay renunciants

Christian nuns

mayfly

coriander leaves

Chi River

Pronunciation

Orthographic/Phonemic		ชี d͡ʑ ī
Romanization	Paiboon	chii
	Royal Institute	chi
(standard) IPA(key)		/t͡ɕʰiː˧/(R)

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Sanskrit जी (jī, an honorific title), according to the Royal Institute Dictionary 2011; but more likely to be from Old Khmer jī, jīha, jiha, jīya, jiya, ji (“grandfather, elderly person; forefather, ancestor; patriarch; venerable woman, religieuse; etc”), or from Pre-Angkorian Old Khmer ʼaji, ʼajī, ʼji, ji, jī (“idem”), or from Angkorian Old Khmer ʼji, ʼjī, ji, jī (“idem”), and thus cognate with Modern Khmer ជី (cii). Perhaps cognate with or borrowed as Lao ຊີ (sī).

Alternative forms

• ชีย, ชีย์ — archaic, obsolete or dated

Noun

ชี • (chii) (classifier คน or ตน or รูป)

1. (archaic, irrespective of the sex) priest; ascetic
2. (แม่~, นาง~, ยาย~) female priest; priestess; religieuse
3. (Buddhism) (แม่~, นาง~, ยาย~) female lay renunciant: laywoman who has her own hair and eyebrows shaved, vows to adhere to ศีลแปด (“Eight Precepts”), and is often seen wearing a white robe
4. (Christianity) (แม่~, นาง~) nun

Derived terms

• กล้วยบวชชี
• ชั่วช่างชี ดีช่างสงฆ์
• ชีต้น
• ชีปะขาว
• ชีเปลือย
• ชีพราหมณ์
• ชีพุก
• ชีมืด
• ทชี
• นางชี
• แม่ชี
• ยายชี

Etymology 2

Cognate with Lao ຊີ (sī), Shan ၵီး (kíi).

Noun

ชี • (chii)

1. (ผัก~) coriander: the plant Coriandrum sativum of the family Apiaceae

Synonyms

• ชีลา
• หอมป้อม

Derived terms

• ชีฝรั่ง
• ชีล้อม (chii-lɔ́ɔm)
• ชีลา
• ชีลาว
• ต้นผักชี
• ผักชี
• ผักชีฝรั่ง (pàk-chii-fà-ràng)
• ผักชีโรยหน้า (pàk-chii-rooi-nâa)

Descendants

• From "ผักชี":
  • → Japanese: パクチー

Etymology 3

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

ชี • (chii) (abstract noun การชี)

1. (of a downy substance) to diffuse; to spread; to scatter

Derived terms

• ประชี
• ฝาชี

Etymology 4

Borrowed from Isan ซี.

Proper noun

ชี • (chii)

1. (แม่น้ำ~, น้ำ~, แม่~) Chi River, the longest river in Thailand

Etymology 5

Borrowed from English she.

Pronoun

ชี • (chii)

1. (slang, humorous, originally LGBTQ) a third person pronoun, originally used to address a woman or effeminate man, now used irrespective of the sex of the addressee: he, she, they, etc.

Etymology 6

From clipping of ชีปะขาว.

Noun

ชี • (chii) (classifier ตัว)

1. (แมลง~) mayfly: any insect of the order Ephemeroptera

Further reading

• “ชี” in Thai Dictionary Project (TDP) (UC Berkeley 1964) (plus additional data from the Royal Institute of Thailand (RI) and NECTEC's LEXITRON project (LEX)). Searchable online at SEAlang.net.