几 (jī) · small table; low stand

Meanings

1 small table; low stand
2 almost; nearly

Characters

几

jī

small table; low stand

Examples

HSK 3

他几乎每天都去跑步。

Tā jīhū měitiān dōu qù pǎobù.

He goes running almost every day.

HSK 6

中奖的几率非常低。

Zhòngjiǎng de jīlǜ fēicháng dī.

The probability of winning is very low.

HSK 7-9

把茶杯放在几上。

Bǎ chábēi fàng zài jī shàng.

Place the teacups on the small table.

Tips

history

The first-tone reading carries two threads that the simplified character merged into one shape. The 'small low table' sense is the original pictograph 几 - a stand for incense, scrolls or tea. The 'almost / nearly' sense came from a separate traditional character 幾, which after script reform also collapsed into 几. Same shape today, different histories.

register

Standalone 几 as 'small table' is literary and rarely heard alone in speech; you meet it mostly in compounds like 茶几 (tea table), 案几 (long writing desk), 凭几 (armrest stand). The 'almost' sense is also bound - you'll see it in 几乎, 几近, 几率 rather than on its own.

Components

pictograph

几 jī

small table; how many (jǐ)

Self-component. 几 is itself Kangxi radical 16. Oracle and seal forms picture a low side-table or armrest with two short legs - the kind of stand on which incense, scrolls or tea were placed. The small-table sense survives in 茶几 (tea table). The very common interrogative 几 'how many' is a phonetic borrowing of the same graph and unrelated to the table picture; it came in via the simplification of 幾 into 几.

Radical

Table Kangxi #16

The 几 radical, originally a pictograph of a low armrest or stool (Shuowen: 坐所以凭也). A small but visible Kangxi class - 凡, 凯, 凳, 凭 - usually placed at the bottom of the host character. In simplified Chinese, 几 also doubles as the high-frequency word for 'how many'.