琪 (qí): fine jade; beautiful jade

Meanings

1 fine jade; beautiful jade
2 used in given names

Characters

A single-character word. The left side 王 (originally 玉, jade) indicates the meaning; the right side 其 gives the pronunciation.

Examples

HSK 1

她叫李琪，名字很好听。

Tā jiào Lǐ Qí, míngzi hěn hǎotīng.

Her name is Li Qi - it's a beautiful name.

HSK 7-9

琪花瑶草是形容仙境的美景。

Qí huā yáo cǎo shì xíngróng xiānjìng de měijǐng.

'Jade flowers and precious grass' describes the beauty of a fairy realm.

Tips

usage

琪 is almost exclusively used in personal names today, especially for girls. It evokes beauty and preciousness. The jade radical (王/玉) signals it belongs to the jade/gem family of characters.

Components

radical

王 wáng

jade (radical form of 玉)

Left jade radical (the side form of 玉, drawn without the dot when on the left - the "king-jade" radical). The indexing radical, putting 琪 in the jade family with 琴 zither, 珍 precious, 珊 coral, 玲 tinkling. 琪 specifically names a fine jade, often used in personal names.

phonetic

其 qí

his/her/its

Right 其 supplies the sound - qí carried over unchanged. 其 contributes no transparent meaning; it acts as a clean phonetic. Same family includes 期 period, 棋 chess, 旗 flag, 欺 deceive - a useful 其-phonetic cluster sharing the qī/qí sound.