chi

See also: Appendix:Variations of "chi"

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)

• Rhymes: -aɪ

Noun

chi (plural chis)

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

Translations

Greek letter

• Arabic: خِي‎‎ m (ḵī)
• Catalan: khi (ca) 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)
• Hebrew: כִי‎‎ (he) f (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)

• Slovak: chí n
• Spanish: ji (es) f

Etymology 2

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

Alternative forms

• ki, qi

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʃiː/

Noun

chi (usually uncountable, plural chis)

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.

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:

  Cantonese: 氣, 气 (hei³)

  Dungan: чи (či)

  Hakka: 氣, 气 (hi)

  Mandarin: 氣 (zh), 气 (zh) (qì)

  Min Dong: 氣, 气 (ké)

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

  Wu: 氣, 气 (qi)

• Esperanto: ĉi (eo)
• 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 (ko) (gi) (氣 (ko))
• Macedonian: чи n (či)
• Persian: چی‎‎ (fa) (či)
• 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, ki
• Vietnamese: khí (vi) (氣 (vi))

Etymology 3

From the pinyin romanization of Mandarin Chinese 尺 (chǐ)

Alternative forms

• chih, ch'ih

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʃə/

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, ICH, Ich, hic, ich

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Atsahuaca

Noun

chi

1. fire

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Chickasaw

Alternative forms

• che

Etymology 1

Pronoun

chi

1. you

Etymology 2

Pronoun

chi

1. my

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Cornish

Pronunciation

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

Noun

chi m (plural chiow or treven)

1. Alternative form of chy

Mutation

  Mutation of chi  

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

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Esperanto

Particle

chi

1. H-system spelling of ĉi

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Garo

Noun

chi

1. water

References

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

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Guerrero Amuzgo

Noun

chi

1. grandfather

Adverb

chi

1. not

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Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [k̟i]

• Audio

  (file)

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

Noun

chi m, f (invariable)

1. chi (Greek letter)

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Japanese

Romanization

chi

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

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Ladin

Pronoun

chi

1. who, whoever

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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.

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Norman

Pronunciation

• Audio (Jersey)

  (file)

Adjective

chi m

1. Alternative form of chièr

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Portuguese

Noun

chi m (plural chis)

1. Alternative form of qi

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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

Derived terms

Terms derived from chi

• chi bộ
• chi cục

• chi đoàn
• chi đội

• chi nhánh
• chi uỷ

Verb

chi

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

Derived terms

Terms derived from chi

• chi tiêu

• thu chi

Etymology 2

Sino-Vietnamese word from 肢.

Noun

chi

1. (anatomy) limb

Derived terms

Terms derived from chi

• đầu óc ngu si, tứ chi phát triển

Etymology 3

Cognate with Muong chi.

Pronoun

chi

1. (Central Vietnam, Southern Vietnam, literary elsewhere) Synonym of gì

   Mi mần chi rứa?

   Whatcha 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?

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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.

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Yola

Noun

chi

1. A small quantity

References

• J. Poole W. Barnes, A Glossary, with Some Pieces of Verse, of the Old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy (1867)