祈 (qí): to pray

Meanings

1 to pray
2 to implore
3 to beseech

Characters

祈

qí

to pray / to implore

Examples

HSK 3

她每晚都祈求平安和健康。

Tā měiwǎn dōu qíqiú píng'ān hé jiànkāng.

She prays every evening for peace and health.

HSK 7-9

人们向神明祈愿，希望来年风调雨顺。

Rénmen xiàng shénmíng qíyuàn, xīwàng láinián fēngtiáoyǔshùn.

People pray to the gods, wishing for favorable weather in the coming year.

Tips

usage

祈 is rarely used alone in modern Chinese; it appears in compounds: 祈祷 (to pray), 祈求 (to pray for), 祈福 (to pray for blessings), 祈愿 (to make a wish/prayer).

Components

radical

礻 shì

spirit; altar (radical form)

Left altar/spirit radical (the side-form of 示) - the indexing radical. Pictures an altar table for ritual offerings. Anchors 祈 firmly in the religion/blessing family with 神 spirit, 祝 to bless, 福 fortune, 祭 to sacrifice. Whenever a Chinese word names a ritual or appeal to the divine, 礻 is usually anchoring the left.

phonetic

斤 jīn

axe; catty

Right 斤 supplies the sound, drifting from jīn to qí along the j-/q- palatalisation series. The 'axe' sense plays no part in the meaning; pure sound peg. Same phonetic powers 近 near, 听 to listen, 折 to break. Prayer here is the verbal appeal to spirits at the altar, sound-tagged by 斤.