chi

From Latin chī, from Ancient Greek χεῖ (kheî).

• khi

• IPA^(key): /kaɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ

chi (plural chis)

1. The twenty-second letter of the Classical and Modern Greek alphabets.

• From former romanizations of Mandarin Chinese 氣／气 (qì), from Middle Chinese 氣 (MC kʰɨi^H, hɨi^H), from Old Chinese 氣 (OC *kʰɯds, *qʰɯds). Compare with modern Japanese 気 (き) (ki), Japanese kyūjitai: 氣 (き) (ki), Korean 기 (氣, gi) or Vietnamese khí (氣).

• ki, qi

• IPA^(key): /tʃiː/

chi (usually uncountable, plural chis)

1. (philosophy) A life force in traditional Chinese philosophy, culture, medicine, etc. related (but not limited) to breath and circulation.
   • 2001 — Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl, p 196

     He took several deep breaths, finding his chi as Butler had taught him.

• gong

• prana
• life force
• ether
• huna
• orgone

From the pinyin romanization of Mandarin Chinese 尺 (chǐ)

• chih, ch'ih

• IPA^(key): /tʃə/

chi (usually uncountable, plural chis)

1. The Chinese foot, a traditional Chinese unit of length based on the human forearm.
2. (Mainland China) The Chinese unit of length standardized in 1984 as ¹/₃ of a meter.
3. (Taiwan) The Taiwanese unit of length standardized as ¹⁰/₃₃ of a meter, identical to the Japanese shaku.
4. (Hong Kong) The chek or Hong Kong foot, a unit of length standardized as 0.371475 meters.

• (traditional, mainland): Chinese foot
• (Taiwan): Taiwanese foot
• (Hong Kong): Hong Kong foot, chek

• shaku, the equivalent Japanese unit

• CIH, HCI, ICH, Ich, hic, ich

chi

1. fire

• che

chi

1. you

chi

1. my

• (Revived Middle Cornish) IPA^(key): [tʃiː]

chi m (plural chiow or treven)

1. Alternative form of chy

chi

1. H-system spelling of ĉi

chi

1. water

• The Bodos in Assam: a socio-cultural study, year 2005-2006 (2007)

chi

1. grandfather

chi

1. not

• IPA^(key): [k̟i]

• Audio

  (file)

From Latin quis, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷis, *kʷos.

chi

1. (interrogative pronoun) who, whom
2. (interrogative pronoun) whoever

From Latin quī, from Old Latin quei, from Proto-Italic *kʷoi.

chi

1. (relative pronoun) who, whom
2. (relative pronoun) whoever

chi m or f (invariable)

1. chi (Greek letter)

chi

1. Rōmaji transcription of ち
2. Rōmaji transcription of チ

chi

1. who, whoever

chi

1. Nonstandard spelling of chī.
2. Nonstandard spelling of chí.
3. Nonstandard spelling of chǐ.
4. Nonstandard spelling of chì.

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

• Audio (Jersey)

  (file)

chi m

1. Alternative form of chièr

chi m (plural chis)

1. Alternative form of qi

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕi˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕɪj˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [cɪj˧˧]

Sino-Vietnamese word from 支 (“branch; to spend”).

chi

1. (taxonomy) genus

chi

1. to spend (money); to pay out; to disburse

Sino-Vietnamese word from 肢.

chi

1. (anatomy) limb

Cognate with Muong chi.

chi (之)

1. (Central Vietnam, literary elsewhere) Synonym of gì

   Mi mần chi rứa?

   Whatcha doing over there?

   • (Can we date this quote?) “Tình đến rồi đi [Love Comes and Goes]”, performed by Thu Thủy:

     Cuộc tình đến rồi đi. Buồn làm chi nhung nhớ làm gì.

     Love comes and goes. Why be sad? Why be tormented by it?

chi (之)

1. (Central Vietnam, Southern Vietnam) what for

   Làm vậy chi?

   What did you do that for?

• IPA^(key): /χiː/

From Middle Welsh chwi, from Proto-Celtic *swīs (compare Breton c’hwi, Cornish hwi, Old Irish síi), from Proto-Indo-European *wos.

• chwi (literary)

chi

1. you (plural; polite)

Chi is primarily a feature of Colloquial Welsh. Literary Welsh uses chwi instead. In the singular, chi is a polite form like French vous or German Sie.

chi m

1. aspirated form of ci

chi

1. A small quantity

• J. Poole W. Barnes, A Glossary, with Some Pieces of Verse, of the Old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy (1867)