chi

See also: Appendix:Variations of "chi"

Translingual

Symbol

chi

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2/B language code for Chinese.

English

Ancient Greek Alphabet

← phi		→ psi
Χ χ Ancient Greek: χεῖ
Wikipedia article on chi

Etymology 1

From Latin chī, from Ancient Greek χεῖ (kheî).

Alternative forms

• khi

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ

Noun

chi (plural chis)

1. The twenty-second letter of the Classical and Modern Greek alphabets.

Derived terms

• chi-by-eye
• chi-rho
• chi-square distribution
• chi-square test

 

Derived terms

• chi distribution
• chi-square

Translations

Greek letter

• Arabic: خِي‎ m (ḵī)
• Catalan: khi (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 西 (zh) (xī), 喜 (zh) (xǐ), 凱／凯 (zh) (kǎi)

• Czech: chí
• Dutch: chi (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: ĥio (eo)
• Finnish: khii (fi)
• French: chi (fr) m
• German: Chi (de) n
• Greek: χι (el) n (chi)

  Ancient: χεῖ n (kheî)

• Hebrew: כִי‎ (he) f (chi)
• Hungarian: khi (hu)
• Interlingua: chi
• Irish: chí f
• Japanese: キー (ja) (kī), カイ (ja) (kai), ヒ (ja) (hi)
• Korean: 키 (ko) (ki)
• Macedonian: хи (hi)
• Malay: khi
• Persian: خی‎ (fa) (xi)
• Polish: chi (pl) n
• Portuguese: qui (pt) m
• Russian: хи (ru) n (xi)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: хи

  Latin: hi (sh)

• Slovak: chí n
• Spanish: ji (es) f
• Thai: ไค (th) (kai)

Etymology 2

From the Mandarin 氣／气 (qì) from the Wade–Giles romanization: chʻi⁴, from Middle Chinese 氣 (MC khj+jH), from Old Chinese 氣 (OC *kʰɯds, “breath, vapor”). Compare modern Japanese 気(き) (ki), Korean 기(氣) (gi) and Vietnamese khí (氣).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃiː/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

chi (usually uncountable, plural chis)

2. (philosophy) A life force in traditional Chinese philosophy, culture, medicine, etc, related (but not limited) to breath and circulation.
   • [1987, “ch'i”, in Encyclopedia Britannica‎^[1], 15th edition, volume 3, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 186, column 3:

     Early Taoist philosophers and alchemists regarded ch'i as a vital force inhering in the breath and bodily fluids and developed techniques to alter and control the movement of ch'i within the body; their aim was to achieve physical longevity and spiritual power.]

   • 2001, Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl, Viking Press, page 196:

     He took several deep breaths, finding his chi as Butler had taught him.

   • 2013 April 2, David Tanis, “Hurry Up, Spring”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 02 April 2013, Dining & Wine‎^[3]:

     At the greenmarket, it’s still mostly potatoes and apples. There are no tender greens, fava beans, peas, asparagus, artichokes, sorrel, rhubarb or early strawberries.
     Those harbingers of the season are said to be full of chi, or qi, the Chinese word for life force. We’re craving them as we’re craving lighter, brighter-tasting meals, food that is greener and fresher.

   • 2017 January 8, Leslie Hsu Oh, “I tried the Chinese practice of ‘sitting the month’ after childbirth”, in The Washington Post‎^[4], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 January 2017, Health & Science‎^[5]:

     According to traditional Chinese medicine, blood carries chi, your “life force,” which fuels all the functions of the body. When you lose blood, you lose chi, and this causes your body to go into a state of yin (cold). When yin (cold) and yang (hot) are out of balance, your body will suffer physical disorders.

Alternative forms

• ch'i, ki, qi

Related terms

• chi kung

Translations

the fundamental life-force or energy

• Arabic: تْشِي‎ m (tšī), كِي‎ (ar) m (kī)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 氣／气 (hei³)

  Dungan: чи (či)

  Hakka: 氣／气 (hi)

  Mandarin: 氣／气 (zh) (qì)

  Min Dong: 氣／气 (ké)

  Min Nan: 氣／气 (zh-min-nan) (khì, khùi)

  Wu: 氣i／气i

• Esperanto: ĉjio
• Finnish: ki (fi)
• French: qi (fr) m
• German: Qi (de) n, Ch'i n, Ki (de) n
• Hebrew: צ׳י‎ (chi)
• Hungarian: csi
• Indonesian: qi (id)
• Japanese: 気 (ja) (き, ki)
• Korean: 기(氣) (ko) (gi)
• Macedonian: чи n (či)
• Persian: چی‎ (fa) (či)
• Polish: chi (pl) n
• Portuguese: qi (pt) m, chi (pt) m
• Russian: ци (ru) n (ci), чи (ru) n (či), ки (ru) n (ki)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: чи n

  Roman: či n

• Swedish: qi (sv)
• Turkish: çi (tr), ki (tr)
• Vietnamese: khí (vi) (氣 (vi))

See also

• qigong
• prana
• life force
• ether
• huna
• orgone

Etymology 3

From the pinyin romanization of Mandarin 尺 (chǐ). Doublet of chek.

Alternative forms

• chih, ch'ih

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

chi (usually uncountable, plural chis)

1. The Chinese foot, a traditional Chinese unit of length based on the human forearm.
2. (Mainland China) The Chinese unit of length standardized in 1984 as ¹/₃ of a meter.
3. (Taiwan) The Taiwanese unit of length standardized as ¹⁰/₃₃ of a meter, identical to the Japanese shaku.
4. (Hong Kong) The chek or Hong Kong foot, a unit of length standardized as 0.371475 meters.

Synonyms

• (traditional, mainland): Chinese foot
• (Taiwan): Taiwanese foot
• (Hong Kong): Hong Kong foot, chek

Related terms

• shaku, the equivalent Japanese unit

Etymology 4

Noun

chi (plural chis)

1. Clipping of chihuahua.

See also

• chi chi
• chi-chi
• chi chi man
• chi-ike
• tai chi
• tai-chi
• tai chi chuan

 

Anagrams

• CIH, HCI, ICH, IHC, Ich, hic, ich

Atsahuaca

Noun

chi

1. fire

Cornish

Alternative forms

• (Standard Cornish) chy

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *tɨɣ, from Proto-Celtic *tegos, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg-.

Pronunciation

• (Revived Middle Cornish) IPA^(key): [tʃiː]

Noun

chi m (plural chiow or treven)

1. (Standard Written Form) house

Mutation

  Mutation of chi  

Cornish consonant mutation
unmutated	soft	aspirate	hard	mixed	mixed after 'th
chi	ji	unchanged	unchanged	unchanged	unchanged

Esperanto

Particle

chi

1. H-system spelling of ĉi

Garo

Alternative forms

• চি

Etymology

From Proto-Bodo-Garo *tɯi¹ (“water”), from Proto-Tibeto-Burman *ti(y), from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-t(w)əj-n ~ m-ti-s (“water; fluid; liquid; river; to soak; to spit”). Cognate with Atong (India) tyi (“water”), Kokborok twi (“water”).

Noun

chi

1. water

Derived terms

• chibatram
• chibima
• chibol
• chidari
• chidek
• chiga
• chigitok
• chiganduri
• chijima
• chiklok
• chimik
• chipek
• chirama
• chiret
• chiriking

• chiring
• chisam
• chisikwilwilgipa
• chitingkilok
• kramchi
• mikchi

References

• The Bodos in Assam: a socio-cultural study, year 2005-2006 (2007)

Guerrero Amuzgo

Noun

chi

1. grandfather

Adverb

chi

1. not

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ki/^*

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -i
• Hyphenation: chi

Etymology 1

From Latin quis, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷis, *kʷos.

Pronoun

chi

1. (interrogative pronoun) who, whom
2. (interrogative pronoun) whoever

Etymology 2

From Latin quī, from Old Latin quei, from Proto-Italic *kʷoi.

Pronoun

chi

1. (relative pronoun) who, whom
2. (relative pronoun) whoever

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Latin chī, from Ancient Greek χεῖ (kheî).

Noun

chi m or f (invariable)

1. chi (Greek letter)

Further reading

chi in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Japanese

Romanization

chi

1. Rōmaji transcription of ち
2. Rōmaji transcription of チ

K'iche'

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃʰiː/

Conjunction

chi

1. and
2. that
3. in

Related terms

• are chi (“in order that”)
• chi chawal (“in secret”)
• chi ik’ (“monthly”)
• chi jumul (“once again”)
• chi nojimal (“slowly; little by little”)
• chi saqil (“in the open; openly”)
• libaj chi (“early”)
• rajwaxik chi (“to be necessary to”)
• taqom chi kaj (“commanded from heaven; sent from heaven”)
• -umal chi (“because”)
• wuqoj chi paq (“bubble”)
• wuqüb chi wuqub (“7x7”)

References

• Allen J. Christenson, Kʼiche-English dictionary

Kokborok

Numeral

chi

1. ten

References

• Binoy Debbarma, Concise Kokborok-English-Bengali Dictionary (2001)

Ladin

Etymology

From Latin quis, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷís. Cognates include French qui and Italian chi.

Pronoun

chi

1. who, whoever

Lashi

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ɕʰi/

Pronoun

chi

1. what?

References

• Hkaw Luk (2017) A grammatical sketch of Lacid‎^[6], Chiang Mai: Payap University (master thesis)

Lombard

Etymology

Akin to Italian chi, from Latin quis.

Pronoun

chi

1. who

Mandarin

Romanization

chi

1. Nonstandard spelling of chī.
2. Nonstandard spelling of chí.
3. Nonstandard spelling of chǐ.
4. Nonstandard spelling of chì.

Usage notes

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Norman

Pronunciation

• Audio (Jersey)

  (file)

Adjective

chi m

1. Alternative form of chièr

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /xi/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -i
• Syllabification: chi

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic.

Interjection

chi

1. he (expression of laughter)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Ancient Greek χεῖ (kheî).

Noun

chi n (indeclinable)

1. chi (Greek letter Χ, χ)

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Mandarin 氣／气 (qì), from Middle Chinese 氣 (MC khj+jH), from Old Chinese 氣 (OC *kʰɯds).

Noun

chi n (indeclinable)

1. (philosophy, pseudoscience) chi (fundamental life-force or energy)

Further reading

• chi in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• chi in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʃi/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈʃi/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈʃi/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃi/

Noun

chi m (plural chis)

1. (Portugal, colloquial) bear hug (any especially large, tight or enthusiastic hug)

   Synonym: chi-coração

Noun

chi m (plural chis)

1. Alternative form of qi

Sardinian

Etymology

From Latin quid, from Proto-Italic *kʷid, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷid.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ki/

Conjunction

chi

1. (Limba Sarda Comuna) that

Pronoun

chi

1. (relative, Limba Sarda Comuna) who, whom, which (nominative and accusative case)

Sassarese

Etymology

From a conflation of Latin quia, quod, and other conjunctions.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ki/

Conjunction

chi

1. that

   Li me' amigghi dìzini chi soggu simpàtiggu

   My friends say that I'm nice

2. than

   Mégliu figlioru di la bonasorthi chi figlioru di re

   Better [to be] son of good luck than son of a king

Derived terms

• daghì

Related terms

• che

Pronoun

chi

1. (relative) who, whom, which

   Lu giràniu, chi ha curori dibessi, dura umbè di tempu fioriddu

   Geraniums, which have various colors, stay in blossom for a long time

   (literally, “The geranium, which has different colors, lasts a lot of time in blossom”)

Adjective

chi (invariable)

1. Used in exclamations to indicate something remarkable; some, what a

   Chi festha! ― What a party!

References

• Rubattu, Antoninu (2006) Dizionario universale della lingua di Sardegna, 2nd edition, Sassari: Edes

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕi˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕɪj˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [cɪj˧˧]

Etymology 1

Sino-Vietnamese word from 支 (“branch; to spend”).

Noun

chi

1. (taxonomy) genus

   Synonym: giống

Related terms

• (Taxonomy) phân loại sinh học; vực (“domain”) / liên giới (“domain”), giới (“kingdom”), ngành (“phylum”), lớp (“class”), bộ (“order”), họ (“family”), chi (“genus”) / giống (“genus”) , loài (“species”) ^{(Category: vi:Taxonomy)}

See also

Derived terms

• chi bộ
• chi cục
• chi đoàn
• chi đội
• chi nhánh
• chi uỷ

 

Verb

chi

1. to spend (money); to pay out; to disburse

See also

Derived terms

• chi phí
• chi tiêu
• thu chi

 

Etymology 2

Sino-Vietnamese word from 肢.

Noun

chi

1. (formal, anatomy, chiefly zoology) a limb

Usage notes

In everyday speech, limbs collectively are referred to as tay chân or chân tay, but there is no word for an individual limb, apart from the more specific tay (“arm”) and chân (“leg”).

Derived terms

Derived terms

• chi sau
• chi trước
• đầu óc ngu si, tứ chi phát triển

 

Etymology 3

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.) Cognate with gì (the form affected by lenition) and Muong Bi chi.

Pronoun

chi • (之)

1. (Central Vietnam, literary elsewhere) what; whatever

   Synonym: gì

   Mi mần chi rứa?

   What are you doing over there?

   • (Can we date this quote?), “Tình đến rồi đi [Love Comes and Goes]”, performed by Thu Thủy:

     Cuộc tình đến rồi đi. Buồn làm chi nhung nhớ làm gì.

     Love comes and goes. Why be sad? Why be tormented by it?

Derived terms

Derived terms

• chi mô
• chưa chi
• hèn chi
• huống chi
• không có chi

 

Adverb

chi • (之)

1. (Central Vietnam, Southern Vietnam) what for

   Làm vậy chi?

   What did you do that for?

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /χiː/
• Rhymes: -iː
• Homophone: ’chi

Etymology 1

From Middle Welsh chwi, from Proto-Celtic *swīs (compare Breton c’hwi, Cornish hwi, Old Irish síi), from Proto-Indo-European *wos.

Alternative forms

• chwi (literary)

Pronoun

chi

1. you (plural; polite)

Usage notes

• In the singular, chi is a polite form like French vous or German Sie.
• Chi is a feature of most registers of Modern Welsh, whereas very literary Welsh employs chwi.
• In certain southwestern dialects, chi is used as the indefinite personal pronoun like English you.

Etymology 2

Noun

chi m

1. aspirated form of ci

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
ci	gi	nghi	chi
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Yola

Etymology

Perhaps clipping of chemis (“pieces”).

Noun

chi

1. A small quantity
   • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY:

     A chi of barach.

     A little barley.

References

• Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 30

Zou

Etymology 1

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *tsii, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *dzəy. Cognates include Burmese အစေ့ (a.ce.).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ci˧/

Noun

chi

1. seed

Etymology 2

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *tsii, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-tsji.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ci˧˩/

Noun

chi

1. salt

References

• Lukram Himmat Singh (2013) A Descriptive Grammar of Zou, Canchipur: Manipur University, page 44