寄 (jì): to send

Meanings

1 to send
2 to mail
3 to entrust
4 to deposit

Characters

寄

jì

to send; to mail; to entrust

Examples

我要寄一封信。

Wǒ yào jì yì fēng xìn.

I want to mail a letter.

包裹已经寄出去了。

Bāoguǒ yǐjīng jì chūqù le.

The package has been sent out.

请把这个寄到北京。

Qǐng bǎ zhège jì dào Běijīng.

Please send this to Beijing.

Tips

usage

寄 is for physical mail. For email, use 发. 寄信 = mail a letter, 寄包裹 = send a package.

Components

radical

宀 mián

roof

Top 宀 is the roof radical, drawn as a covering. It frames 寄 as a dwelling-action: originally lodging under someone's roof, later extended to entrusting goods (mailing) the way you'd entrust yourself to a host. Same family as 家, 安, 寒.

phonetic

奇 qí

strange; odd

Bottom 奇 supplies the sound (qí → jì, palatal shift via Middle Chinese). 奇 is itself 大+可, the standalone reading 'strange/uneven' contributes nothing semantic here — pure phonetic borrow. Same right-side appears in 骑 (qí, ride), showing the kept sound in another character.