气

• Pinyin: qì
• Hanzi breakdown: 气 = simplified from 氣, originally depicting steam rising from rice; three horizontal strokes represent the flow of air

Meaning

Air; gas; breath; anger. Also means to make someone angry or to irritate.

An extremely versatile character with multiple meanings. As a noun: air (空气), weather (天气), breath (呼气), or anger (生气). As a verb: to make someone angry. Appears in dozens of compounds: 气温 (temperature), 气氛 (atmosphere), 力气 (strength), 脾气 (temper). One of the most productive characters in Chinese.

Examples

1. 今天天气很好。 The weather is very nice today.
2. 别生气了，他不是故意的。 Don't be angry — he didn't do it on purpose.
3. 你不要气我了。 Stop trying to annoy me.

Usage Guide

Context: weather, emotions, health, everyday

Tone: varies

Do Say

• 外面空气很新鲜。(The air outside is very fresh.)
• 他说的话让我很生气。(What he said made me very angry.)

Don't Say

• 不要混淆生气和气 (生气 means to be angry, while 气 alone as a verb means to deliberately anger someone — 别气我 means 'don't make me angry,' not 'don't be angry at me')

Origin & History

Originally written as 氣, depicting steam rising from cooking rice. Simplified to 气, which was itself an ancient form representing vapour or breath.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal