椅 (yǐ) · chair

Measure Word

一把椅子 bǎ

Meanings

1 chair

Examples

HSK 1

请坐椅子上。

Qǐng zuò yǐzi shàng.

Please sit on the chair.

HSK 2

教室里有很多椅子。

Jiàoshì lǐ yǒu hěnduō yǐzi.

There are many chairs in the classroom.

Tips

usage

椅 almost always appears as 椅子 (chair). The measure word is 把. The 木 radical indicates it was originally made of wood.

Components

radical

木 mù

tree; wood

Left tree radical - pictograph of a tree, here meaning the wood the object is made from. It marks 椅 as a wooden furniture item, the standard chair with a back. Same indexing radical: 桌 table, 床 bed (variant 牀), 板 board, 柜 cabinet - the everyday furniture family.

phonetic

奇 qí

strange; rare (here phonetic)

Right 奇 supplies the sound - qí drifting to yǐ via initial loss in classical readings (the same drift that took 倚 "to lean"). The strange meaning is not carried. Same phonetic kernel: 倚 lean, 骑 to ride, 寄 to send, 崎 rugged.