气

• 拼音: qì
• 汉字拆解: 气 = simplified from 氣, originally depicting steam rising from rice; three horizontal strokes represent the flow of air

含义

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.

例句

1. 今天天气很好。
2. 别生气了，他不是故意的。
3. 你不要气我了。

用法指南

语境: weather, emotions, health, everyday

语气: varies

正确说法

• 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.)

错误说法

• 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')

起源与历史

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

文化背景

世代: All ages

社会背景: Universal