chi

See also: Appendix:Variations of "chi"

English

Etymology 1

Ancient Greek Alphabet

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

Wikipedia

From the classical Latin transcription of the ancient Greek pronunciation /kʰi/

Alternative forms

• khi

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ

Noun

chi (plural chis)

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

Translations

Greek letter

• Arabic: خي m (khii)
• Catalan: khi f
• Chinese:

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

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

• 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)
• Portuguese: qui (pt) m
• Russian: хи (ru) n (xi)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: хи

  Latin: hi (sh)

• Spanish: ji (es) f

Etymology 2

Wikipedia

From former romanizations of Mandarin Chinese 氣 (qì), from Middle Chinese 氣 (kʰjɨ̀j or qi), from Old Chinese 气 (*C.qʰəp-s, “breath, vapor”)

Alternative forms

• ki, qi

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʃiː/

Noun

chi (uncountable)

1. (philosophy) A life force in traditional Chinese philosophy, culture, medicine, etc. related (but not limited) to breath and circulation
   • 2001 — Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl, p 196

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

Usage note

As this is based on former romanizations of Chinese, one should be careful to distinguish its pronunciation from pinyin chi.

Related terms

• positive orgone radiation
• prana
• life force
• ether
• huna

Translations

the fundamental life-force or energy

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

  Mandarin: 氣 (zh), 气 (zh) (qì)

• Finnish: ki
• French: qi (fr) m
• German: Qi n, Ch'i n, Ki (de) n
• Hebrew: צ׳י (chi)
• Hungarian: csi
• Indonesian: qi (id)
• Japanese: 気 (ja) (き, ki)

• Korean: 기 (ko) (gi) (氣 (ko))
• Macedonian: чи n (či)
• Persian: چی (fa) (či)
• Portuguese: qi m, chi 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, Ki
• Vietnamese: khí (vi) (氣 (vi))

Etymology 3

Wikipedia

From the pinyin romanization of Mandarin Chinese 尺 (chǐ)

Alternative forms

• chih, ch'ih

Pronunciation

• English: /tʃʌ/, /tʃə/
• Chinese: /ʈ͡ʂʰʐ̩²¹⁴/

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

Anagrams

• CIH, HCI, hic, ich, Ich, ICH

---

Amuzgo

Noun

chi

1. grandfather

Adverb

chi

1. not

---

Atsahuaca

Noun

chi

1. fire

---

Chickasaw

Alternative forms

• che

Pronoun

chi

1. you

Pronoun

chi

1. my

---

Cornish

Alternative forms

• chei, chy

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *tegos, from Proto-Indo-European *tegos (“cover, roof”).

Pronunciation

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

Noun

chi m (plural chiow, treven)

1. 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

---

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [k̟i]

• Audio

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Latin quis.

Pronoun

chi

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

Etymology 2

From Latin qui.

Pronoun

chi

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

Noun

Wikipedia ^it

chi m, f (invariable)

1. chi (Greek letter)

---

Japanese

Romanization

chi

1. rōmaji reading of ち
2. rōmaji reading of チ

---

Jèrriais

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

chi m (feminine chiéthe, masculine plural chis, feminine plural chiéthes)

1. alternative form of chièr

---

Ladin

Pronoun

chi

1. who, whoever

---

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

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

---

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA ^(key): /ṯɕi˧˧/
• (Huế) IPA ^(key): /ṯɕɪj˧˧/
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA ^(key): /c̻ɪj˧˥/

Noun

chi

1. leg, limb
2. line of descent

Verb

chi

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

---

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [χiː]

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

Chi is primarily a feature of Colloquial Welsh. Literary Welsh uses chwi instead. In the singular, chi is a polite form like French vous or German Sie.

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.