崎 (qí): rugged; rough; uneven (of terra…

Meanings

1 rugged; rough; uneven (of terrain)
2 used in 崎岖 (qíqū) - rugged, rough

Characters

崎

qí

rugged; uneven (terrain)

Examples

HSK 7-9

这条山路非常崎岖。

Zhè tiáo shānlù fēicháng qíqū.

This mountain road is very rugged.

HSK 7-9

崎岖的地形让车队行进缓慢。

Qíqū de dìxíng ràng chēduì xíngjìn huǎnmàn.

The rugged terrain slowed the convoy down.

Tips

usage

崎 is a bound morpheme - it almost never appears alone. It is most commonly seen in 崎岖 (rugged/rough terrain). It also appears in Japanese place names like 川崎 (Kawasaki) and 宫崎 (Miyazaki).

Components

radical

山 shān

mountain

Left mountain radical - the indexing radical. Pictograph of three peaks. Anchors 崎 firmly in the topography family with 峰 peak, 岭 ridge, 岩 cliff. The whole word 崎岖 names rugged, broken mountain terrain - exactly what the radical depicts.

phonetic

奇 qí

strange; odd

Right 奇 supplies the sound qí (exact match). Faintly carries the meaning 'irregular, off-balance' - fitting with rough, uneven ground. Same phonetic family: 骑 ride, 寄 send, 椅 chair, 倚 lean. The 'strange + uneven' overlap makes the etymology feel pleasantly motivated rather than purely phonetic.