耆 (qí): an elder; aged person (traditio…

Meanings

1 an elder; aged person (traditionally one of sixty or seventy)
2 venerable

Characters

耆

qí

elder; venerable

Examples

村里的耆老至今仍受敬重。

Cūnlǐ de qílǎo zhìjīn réng shòu jìngzhòng.

The village elders are still revered today.

委员会请了几位耆宿前来指导。

Wěiyuánhuì qǐng le jǐ wèi qísù qiánlái zhǐdǎo.

The committee invited several venerable scholars to advise.

他希望有朝一日能被尊为乡里的耆英。

Tā xīwàng yǒu zhāo yī rì néng bèi zūn wéi xiānglǐ de qíyīng.

He hopes one day to be honored as a wise elder of the community.

Tips

usage

Compounds where you actually meet 耆: 耆老 (revered elders, esp. of a village), 耆宿 (a senior, learned figure in some field), 耆英 (eminent elderly worthy). Hong Kong, Taiwan and academic writing use these freely; mainland everyday speech leans on plainer 老人 or 长辈.

register

Literary / honorific register. Confucian texts set 耆 at sixty and 艾 at fifty, while 耄 starts in the eighties — together 耆耋 covers the whole arc of seniority. Use in formal writing, eulogies, or when describing dignified elders; sounds archaic in casual speech.

Components

radical

耂 lǎo

old; elder

Top 耂 is the elder-radical form of 老 (Kangxi #125) — a stylized stooped figure with long hair leaning on a cane. Indexes a small family of age and respect words: 老, 考, 孝, 者.

phonetic

旨 zhǐ

purport; flavor

Bottom 旨 supplies the sound — the older reading of 旨 was close enough to qí that ancient phonology paired them. Modern 旨 and 耆 have drifted apart but the phonetic link is preserved historically.