ci

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ci"

Languages (34)

Aka (Central Africa) • Balinese • Bambara • Corsican • Dalmatian • Dhimal • Esperanto • French • Hausa • Ido • Indonesian • Interlingua • Italian • Kangjia • Kanuri • Latgalian • Latin • Malay • Mandarin • Noone • Nupe • Old French • Old Irish • Polish • Romanian • Sicilian • Tarantino • Tedim Chin • Venetan • Walloon • Welsh • White Hmong • Zhuang

Page categories

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

ci (poetry)

Wikipedia

Aka (Central Africa)

Noun

ci

water

Balinese

Romanization

ci

Romanization of ᬘᬶ

Bambara

Etymology 1

Noun

cí

thatch, especially of the species Diheteropogon grandiflorus

Etymology 2

Noun

cí

commission, errand
message, order
mission, task, assignment
ò cí bɛ́ í kàn
it is your duty
work, labor (especially agricultural)
cí kɛ́
to work in the fields
usefulness, utility
cí tɛ́ nìn ná
that's useless

Verb

cí

to send, charge with a mission
sɛ́bɛn cí mɔ̀gɔ mà
to send a letter to someone

Etymology 3

Verb

cì

to hit
fíyɛn bɛ́ cì
the wind is blowing

fàli cì
to hit an donkey
to break
à y'á kùn cì
He knocked him unconscious
to destroy
to split, divide, cut
dɔ́gɔ cì
to split wood
to burst, explode with a loud noise
màrifa cì
to fire off a round (with a gun)
to trace, tattoo
bála cì
to plot an area of a field to be hoed

tùgu cì
to vaccinate in the arm

Noun

cì

line, stroke
tattoo

Corsican

Etymology

Ultimately from either Latin hīc (“here”) or hinc (“from here”). Akin to Italian ci; see there for more. Compare Sicilian cci.

Adverb

ci

there

Pronoun

ci

us (both direct and indirect object)

References

https://infcor.adecec.net/

Dalmatian

Etymology

From Latin quem. Compare Portuguese quem, Romanian cine, Spanish quien, Romansch che, Sardinian chíne.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /t͡ʃi/

Pronoun

ci

who

Dhimal

Noun

ci

water

Esperanto

Etymology

From Italian or French tu, Russian ты (ty), etc., plus the i of personal pronouns.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [t͡si]
Audio: (file)
Hyphenation: ci

Pronoun

ci (accusative cin, possessive cia)

(rare) thou, you (second-person informal singular pronoun)
- 1905, Ludoviko Lazaro Zamenhof, Fundamento de Esperanto:
  Mi legas. — Ci skribas (anstataŭ “ci” oni uzas ordinare “vi”).
  I read. — Thou writest (instead of “ci” one ordinarily uses “vi”.)
- 1899, Felikso Zamenhof, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
  Ekamis la konato / Kaj reciproke ŝi; / Post paso de monato / Ŝanĝiĝis »Vi« per »ci«.
  Her acquaintance fell in love / and reciprocally she; / after the passage of a month / "You" changed into "thee".
- 1907, Henri Vallienne, Kastelo de Prelongo, ch. 6:
  Cia sintenado estos vere fiera, li moke murmuretis en ŝian orelon, kiam ci estos vekinta la tutan loĝantaron.
  Thine attitude shall be truly proud, he mockingly whispered into her ear, when thou shalt have awakened the whole population.

Usage notes

Some people believe that this word was used in the past and then became archaic, but this is not true. Actually, this word has never been in common usage; Zamenhof advised against using 'ci' as early as the Dua Libro de l' Lingvo Internacia, published in 1888. Many Esperantists don't even understand it. Some authors have used 'ci' to portray archaic language, for translations, and for stylistic effects. This usage is criticized by other writers.

Ludwig L. Zamenhof, Dua Libro de l' Lingvo Internacia; Ludwig L. Zamenhof, Lingvaj Respondoj; Bertilo Wennergren, Plena Manlibro de Esperanta Gramatiko (PMEG); Bernard Golden, La Gazeto #11, June 15, 1987; Zlatko Tisjlar, Frekvencmorfemaro de Parolata Esperanto.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Late Latin ecce hīc.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /si/
Audio: (file)
Homophones: si, scie, scies, scient

Adverb

ci

(in compounds, else archaic) Alternative form of ici (“here”)
(after a noun) see -ci

Derived terms

References

“ci”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Hausa

Etymology

From Proto-Chadic, ultimately from Proto-Afroasiatic *taʔ- (“to eat, especially something soft, to close lips, especially loosely”). Compare Akkadian 𒋫𒀪𒌑 (ta-ʔu-u₂ /⁠ta'u⁠/, “to eat”), Mehri tewō (“eat”), Arabic تَأْتَأَ (taʔtaʔa, “to stammer, to stutter, to reduplicate sounds, to mumble or move lips”), and with varying Berber forms Tamahaq ⵜⵜ (tǝtt), Tarifit ⵜⵜ (tǝtt), Central Atlas Tamazight ⵜⵛ (tc), and Kabyle teṭṭ (pharyngeal-coloring found as well in the Arabic variant تَعْتَعَ (taʕtaʕa), and in that sense possible further connections to طَعِمَ (ṭaʕima, “to taste”) and عَضَّ (ʕaḍḍa, “to bite”)).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /t͡ʃí/
- (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃɪ́]

Verb

ci (grade Ø)

to eat, to eat soft things

Ido

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /tsi/

Determiner

ci

Alternative form of ici (“these”)

Pronoun

ci

Alternative form of ici (“these”)

Indonesian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈt͡ʃi]
Hyphenation: ci

Etymology 1

From Xiamen Hokkien 錢／钱 (chîⁿ, “mace”).

Noun

ci (first-person possessive ciku, second-person possessive cimu, third-person possessive cinya)

(obsolete) weight unit: 1/10 tahil (for opium).

Etymology 2

From Sundanese ᮎᮤ (ci), ultimately from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

Noun

ci (first-person possessive ciku, second-person possessive cimu, third-person possessive cinya)

river (large stream which drains a landmass), specifically, those located in Banten, West Java, and far-western Central Java

Synonyms

Etymology 3

Noun

ci (first-person possessive ciku, second-person possessive cimu, third-person possessive cinya)

alternative form of encik.
alternative form of taci (“elder sister”).

Interlingua

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /tsi/

Adverb

ci

here (at this place)

Italian

Etymology 1

From Latin cē (the name of the letter C).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (most common outside of Tuscany) /ˈt͡ʃi/^*
Rhymes: -i
Hyphenation: cì

Noun

ci f (invariable)

The name of the Latin-script letter C/c.; cee

Etymology 2

Uncertain. Rohlfs^[1] and Von Wartburg^[2] favoured/favored Late Latin ecce hīc. Maiden^[3] casts doubt on this etymology, pointing out that Italian ci is an unstressed 'weak' form, while Latin hic otherwise survives in Italian only in stressed forms (reinforced by Latin ecce or eccum) such as ciò, qua, and qui. (It should also be noted that all of the latter trigger syntactic doubling in a following word, thanks to their original final /k/, while ci does not.)^[4] Maiden proposes instead an origin in Latin hince, variant of hinc (“hence, from here”), pointing out that in parts of southern Italy there exists a 1PL pronoun 'nci (cf. also 'nce). Treccani,^[5] on the other hand, proposes an origin in Latin hīce, a variant of hīc (“here”). In any case, the Italian term is certainly cognate with Neapolitan ce, Sicilian cci and Sassarese zi, all three of which share similar adverbial senses, with the latter two also having pronominal senses.

Alternative forms

-ci (enclitic)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /t͡ʃi/, (Sicily, Calabria) ^*/t͡ʃi/
Hyphenation: ci

Pronoun

ci

us
Loro ci conoscono ― They know us
(reflexive pronoun) ourselves; each other
Ci arrabbiamo ― We (ourselves) get angry

Ci amiamo ― We love each other
to us
Lui ci ha detto questo ― He said this to us
replaces the indefinite personal pronoun si (“one”) before reflexive si (“oneself”); one
Ci si lava. ― One washes oneself.

Ci si annoia quando non c'è niente da fare.
One gets bored when there is nothing to do.
it, to it
Non ci credo. ― I do not believe it.

Usage notes

Becomes ce when followed by a third person direct object clitic (lo, la, li, le, or ne).

Adverb

ci

to there, here, there
Synonym: vi (formal)

Ci sono andato ― I have been there

Ci siamo ― We're here

Ci sono molte cose ― There are many things

C'è un problema ― There is a problem
forms part of many verbs:
volerci ― to require/take

abituarci ― to get used to it

riuscirci ― to be able to do it

entrarci ― to do with something

contarci ― to count on it

pensarci ― to think about it

starci ― to agree / to be up for something

farcela ― to manage to do something

crederci ― to believe it

References

^ Rohlfs, Gerhard. 1969. Grammatica storica della lingua italiana e dei suoi dialetti, vol. 3: Sintassi e formazione delle parole. Torino: Einaudi. §899.
^ Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “hīc”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 4: G H I, page 425
^ Maiden, Martin. 1995. A linguistic history of Italian. London: Longman. §9.1.1.
^ ci in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
^ ci1 in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Etymology 3

Alternative forms

tchi, twi, kyi

Noun

ci m (uncountable)

the Twi language family

Kangjia

Etymology

From Proto-Mongolic *či; compare Mongolian чи (či), Dongxiang chi.

Pronoun

ci

you

Kanuri

Noun

ci

mouth

Latgalian

Etymology

Borrowed from Belarusian ці (ci).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈt͡sʲi]
Hyphenation: ci

Particle

ci

Used to form polar questions.

Synonyms

voi

References

A. Andronov, L. Leikuma (2008) Latgalīšu-Latvīšu-Krīvu sarunu vuordineica, Lvava, →ISBN, page 13

Latin

Verb

cī

second-person singular present active imperative of ciō

Malay

Etymology

From Sundanese ᮎᮤ (ci).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /t͡ʃi/
Rhymes: -t͡ʃi, -i

Noun

ci (Jawi spelling چي, plural ci-ci, informal 1st possessive ciku, 2nd possessive cimu, 3rd possessive cinya)

river (large stream which drains a landmass)

Synonyms

Mandarin

Romanization

ci

Nonstandard spelling of cī.
Nonstandard spelling of cí.
Nonstandard spelling of cǐ.
Nonstandard spelling of cì.

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.

Noone

Verb

ci

strike

Synonyms

References

R. Blench, Beboid Comparative

Nupe

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /t͡ʃī/

Conjunction

ci

Used to order actions temporally: then; and
Musa à bá nakàn yínna, Gàná ci à gí eci yínna ― Musa will cut meat today, and Gana will eat yam today

Usage notes

ci is solely used to join verbs/sentences and not nouns, for which tò is used. Additionally, when ci is used, the subject of each verb must be specified.

Old French

Etymology

From Late Latin ecce hīc.

Adverb

ci

here (in this place)
- c. 1250, Marie de France, Guigemar:
  Va t'en de ci ! Lai me aveir pes.
  Go, leave this place! Let me have peace.

Descendants

French: ici, ci

Old Irish

Pronoun

ci

Alternative form of cía

Conjunction

ci

Alternative form of cía

Polish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ɕi/
Audio: (file)
Rhymes: -i
Syllabification: ci

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

(stressed) tobie

Etymology 2

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *ti.

Pronoun

ci

short dative singular of ty.

Etymology 3

Pronoun

ci m

virile nominative plural of ten

Romanian

Etymology

From ce.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /t͡ʃi/

Conjunction

ci

(adversative) but; so that; on the contrary, opposite
Nici eu, ci el. ― Not I, but he.

Sicilian

Alternative forms

cci

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈtʃi]
(unstressed) IPA^(key): [tʃɪ]

Etymology 1

Akin to Italian ci; see there for more.

Adverb

ci

here, there

Etymology 2

Pronoun

ci

dative of iddu (“he”); to him
dative of idda (“she”); to her
dative of iddi (“they”); to them

Usage notes

Unlike in Italian, the Sicilian pronoun ci is not used for the first-person plural ('us'). The Sicilian equivalent is ni.

Inflection

3^rd person	m	f	pl
nominative	iddu	idda	iddi
prepositional	iddu	idda	iddi
accusative	lu	la	li
dative	ci	ci	ci
reflexive	si	si	si

Tarantino

Pronoun

ci (relative)

who

Tedim Chin

Etymology

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

Noun

ci

salt

References

Zomi Ordbog based on the work of D.L. Haokip

Venetan

Etymology

From Latin quis (compare Italian chi).

Pronoun

ci (interrogative)

who?

Usage notes

Redoubled for reinforcement.
Ci èlo ci?
Who on earth is he?

Walloon

Etymology

From Old French cist, from Latin ecce istum (< iste).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /si/

Determiner

ci (after an open syllabe : ç', feminine : cisse, masculine form before vowel : cist, feminine form before vowel : ciste, plural : ces)

this
Ci rotch
This rock

C' est ç' rotch-ci
It's this rock

Cist ome
This man

Cisse gayole
This box

Ciste afwaire
This affair

Ces måjhons
These houses

Pronoun

ci (before a vowel : c', alternative form : çou)

it, this
Ci m' fwait må
It hurts me

C' est on ome
It a man

Welsh

Etymology

From Middle Welsh ci, from Proto-Brythonic *ki, from Proto-Celtic *kū, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /kiː/
Rhymes: -iː

Noun

ci m (plural cŵn)

dog

Coordinate terms

gast (“bitch (all senses)”)

Derived terms

bresych y cŵn (“ dog's mercury”)
ci poeth (“hotdog”)
ciaidd (“savage, fierce”)
corgi (“corgi”)
cynaidd (“canine”)
cynffongi (“sycophant, sponger”)
cynol (“canine”)
dwrgi (“otter”)
gellgi (“a Welsh staghound”)
gwenci (“weasel”)
hyddgi (“staghound”)
(literary) ciros (“dog roses”)
rhos y cŵn (“dog roses, sweetbriers”)
rhosyn y cŵn (“dogrose”)
ufferngi (“hell-hound”)

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.

White Hmong

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ci˧/

Verb

ci

to cook, to roast, to toast
to glow, to shine

Zhuang

Pronunciation

(Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /ɕi˨˦/
Tone numbers: ci¹
Hyphenation: ci

Etymology 1

From Chinese 車 (MC tsyhae).

Noun

ci (1957–1982 spelling ci)

vehicle

Classifier

ci (1957–1982 spelling ci)

carload of; cartload of; truckload of

Verb

ci (1957–1982 spelling ci)

to sew with a sewing machine
to machine on a lathe

Etymology 2

From Chinese 吹 (MC tsyhwe).

Verb

ci (Sawndip form 𫩝, 1957–1982 spelling ci)

(intransitive, of wind) to blow
Synonyms: (dialectal) baed, (dialectal) daet, (dialectal) boq, (dialectal) coi
(transitive) to blow
Synonym: (dialectal) baed
(transitive) to play (a wind instrument)
(transitive) to pump (a bellows)
Synonyms: (dialectal) daz, (dialectal) boz

Etymology 3

From Chinese 催 (MC tshwoj).

Verb

ci (1957–1982 spelling ci)

to urge
Synonyms: (dialectal) cui, (dialectal) dok

Etymology 4

From Chinese 支 (MC tsye).

Classifier

ci (1957–1982 spelling ci)

Used for stick-like objects.

[1] Rohlfs, Gerhard. 1969. Grammatica storica della lingua italiana e dei suoi dialetti, vol. 3: Sintassi e formazione delle parole. Torino: Einaudi. §899.

[2] Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “hīc”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 4: G H I, page 425

[3] Maiden, Martin. 1995. A linguistic history of Italian. London: Longman. §9.1.1.

[4] Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

[5] 1 in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

		Nominative	Dative	Accusative	Disjunctive
Singular	1st person	eiu	mi		mè
	2nd person	tù	ti		tè
	3rd person m	ellu	li	u, l'	ellu
	3rd person f	ella	li	a, l'	ella
Plural	1st person	noi	ci		noi
	2nd person	voi	vi		voi
	3rd person m	elli	li	i, l'	elli
	3rd person f	elle	li	e, l'	elle

Number	Person	Gender	Nominative	Reflexive	Accusative	Dative	Combined	Disjunctive	Locative	Partitive
Singular	first	—	io	mi, m', -mi			me	me	—
	second	—	tu	ti, t', -ti			te	te	—
	third	m	lui	si², s', -si	lo, l', -lo	gli, -gli	glie, se²	lui, sé	ci, c', vi, v' (formal)	ne, n'
	third	f	lei, Lei¹	si², s', -si	la, La¹, l', L'¹, -la, -La¹	le³, Le¹, -le³, -Le¹	glie, se²	lei, Lei¹, sé	ci, c', vi, v' (formal)	ne, n'
Plural	first	—	noi	ci, c', -ci			ce	noi	—
	second	—	voi, Voi⁴	vi, Vi⁴, v', V'⁴, -vi, -Vi⁴			ve	voi, Voi⁴	—
	third	m	loro, Loro¹	si, s', -si	li, Li¹, -li, -Li¹	gli, -gli, loro (formal), Loro¹	glie, se	loro, Loro¹, sé	ci, c', vi, v' (formal)	ne, n'
	third	f	loro, Loro¹	si, s', -si	le, Le¹, -le, -Le¹	gli, -gli, loro (formal), Loro¹	glie, se	loro, Loro¹, sé	ci, c', vi, v' (formal)	ne, n'
¹	Third person pronominal forms used as formal terms of address to refer to second person subjects (with the first letter frequently capitalised as a sign of respect, and to distinguish them from third person subjects). Unlike the singular forms, the plural forms are mostly antiquated terms of formal address in the modern language, and second person plural pronouns are almost always used instead.
²	Also used as indefinite pronoun meaning “one”, and to form the passive.
³	Often replaced by gli, -gli in informal language.
⁴	Formal (capitalisation optional); in many regions, can refer to just one person (compare with French vous).

ci

English

Etymology

Noun

Anagrams

Aka (Central Africa)

Noun

Further reading

Balinese

Romanization

Bambara

Etymology 1

Noun

Etymology 2

Noun

Verb

Etymology 3

Verb

Noun

Corsican

Etymology

Adverb

Pronoun

See also

References

Dalmatian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Pronoun

Dhimal

Noun

Further reading

Esperanto

Etymology

Pronunciation

Pronoun

Usage notes

French

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adverb

Derived terms

References

Hausa

Etymology

Pronunciation

Verb

Ido

Pronunciation

Determiner

Pronoun

Indonesian

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Noun

Etymology 2

Noun

Synonyms

Etymology 3

Noun

Further reading

Interlingua

Pronunciation

Adverb

Italian

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Noun

See also

Further reading

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Pronoun

Usage notes

See also

Adverb

See also

References

Etymology 3