匮 (kuì): to lack

Meanings

1 to lack
2 to be short of
3 exhausted

Characters

匮

kuì

to lack; exhausted

Examples

偏远地区长期人才匮乏。

Dìqū chángqī réncái kuìfá.

Remote areas have long suffered from a severe shortage of skilled people.

资源一旦匮乏，发展就会停滞。

Zīyuán yīdàn kuìfá, fāzhǎn jiù huì tíngzhì.

Once resources are exhausted, development stalls.

水库见底，供水严重匮乏。

Shuǐkù jiàn dǐ, gōngshuǐ yánzhòng kuìfá.

The reservoir is running dry; the water supply is severely depleted.

Tips

usage

In modern Chinese 匮 almost never stands alone — you'll meet it inside 匮乏 ('to be in short supply'), which collocates with abstract nouns: resources (资源), funds (资金), talent (人才). For everyday 'I'm out of milk' use 缺 or 没有 instead.

memory

Picture an expensive (贵) item kept in a box (匚) — once you open the lid and find it gone, you're out, depleted, 匮. The 贵 inside also supplies the sound (guì → kuì).

Components

radical

匚 fāng

open box; receptacle

Kangxi #22, the right-opening box radical. Like 囗, it's a wrap-then-close shape: the top-and-left bracket goes down first, the inside 贵 is written next, and the bottom stroke seals the container last. The radical groups containers and storage chars like 区 and 匠.

phonetic

贵 guì

expensive; precious

Mostly phonetic: guì supplies the sound for kuì (k/g share a place of articulation; same series gives 溃 'collapse' and 馈 'to present'). The 'precious' meaning also nudges the semantics — what was once valuable inside the box is now used up.