起 (qǐ) · to rise, to get up, to start

Meanings

1 to rise
2 to get up
3 to start
4 measure word for incidents and cases (accidents, crimes)

Characters

起

qǐ

to rise; to get up

走 (to walk) + 己 (self) - getting yourself up to walk.

Examples

HSK 2

我每天六点起床。

Wǒ měitiān liù diǎn qǐchuáng.

I get up at six every day.

HSK 3

风起了。

Fēng qǐ le.

The wind has picked up.

HSK 5

昨天发生了两起交通事故。

Zuótiān fāshēng le liǎng qǐ jiāotōng shìgù.

Two traffic accidents happened yesterday.

Tips

grammar

起 is extremely common as a directional complement: 站起来 (stand up), 想起来 (recall), 拿起 (pick up). It indicates upward movement or the beginning of an action.

Components

radical

走 zǒu

walk; run

Walk radical wrapping the lower-left - the indexing radical and meaning anchor. 走 originally meant 'to run', so 起 is fundamentally a motion verb: the act of rising from the ground and moving. Same radical anchors the locomotion family 赶 (catch up), 越 (cross over), 趋 (hurry toward).

phonetic

己 jǐ

self

Right component supplies the sound: jǐ → qǐ with palatal-onset shift. Adds a faint mnemonic flavour - 'getting oneself (己) up to move (走)' - that tracks well for learners. Same phonetic series produces 记 'record', 纪 'era', 忌 'taboo'.