机 (jī): machine; mechanism

Meanings

1 machine; mechanism
2 opportunity; chance
3 aircraft

Examples

HSK 3

他在工厂修机器。

Tā zài gōngchǎng xiū jīqì.

He repairs machines at the factory.

HSK 6

这是一个好机会，别错过了。

Zhè shì yígè hǎo jīhuì, bié cuòguò le.

This is a good opportunity, don't miss it.

Tips

usage

机 is one of the most productive characters in modern Chinese. It appears in dozens of everyday words: 手机 (phone), 飞机 (airplane), 电视机 (TV set), 机场 (airport), 机会 (opportunity), 司机 (driver). Learning 机 unlocks a huge number of compounds.

history

The traditional character 機 originally depicted a loom mechanism (織機), which is why the meaning expanded from "loom" to "machine" to "mechanism" in general. The simplified form 机 uses the wood radical 木 with 几, dramatically reducing the stroke count from 16 to 6.

Components

radical

木 mù

tree; wood

Left wood radical - the indexing semantic. Original 机 referred to a small wooden table or loom-frame, then to mechanical wooden devices in general. Modern senses (machine, mechanism, opportunity, aircraft) all radiate from that base. Simplified from traditional 機, where the right side was a much heavier phonetic 幾.

phonetic

几 jǐ

small table; how many

Right 几 supplies the sound - jǐ shifted only in tone to jī. In simplified 机 this 几 has replaced the full traditional phonetic 幾. 几 itself was originally a small low table (the pictograph), so it also carries a faint semantic echo: a wooden contraption. Family with same phonetic: 讥 (mock), 饥 (hungry), 肌 (muscle).