凄 (qī) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

凄

qī[qi1]Tone 1

intense cold, bleak, mournful

HSK 7

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · intense cold, bleak, mournful

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:10

Writing Balance Rule: The left component (冫) is compact and occupies about one-third of the width, while the right phonetic component (妻) claims the remaining two-thirds with balanced horizontal strokes.

1. Meaning

intense cold and bleakness

dismalgrimsadmournful

AdjectiveLiteraryBound morpheme#weather#emotions#atmosphere

Sample Usage

夜色凄凉
yèsè qīliáng
the night scenery is desolate and bleak
凄风苦雨
qī fēng kǔ yǔ
bleak wind and bitter rain (describing miserable conditions)

2. Sound

/[t͡ɕʰi˥˥]/Tone: 55

凄

qīqi1

¯(55)

=qī

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "i" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Alveolo-Palatal

Sounds like: ch sound produced with the tongue blade near the lower teeth

Aspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Extremely strong burst of breath! Tissue held before mouth MUST fly.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Flat tongue blade pressed lightly behind lower front teeth, releasing a burst of air.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -i vowel group

Sounds like: ee sound in 'see'

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ee'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T1 (55)

5 → 5 (55)

1st Tone (High-Flat)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 is a high, flat, sustained pitch, similar to a musical note held steady without rising or falling.

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse the aspirated initial 'q' ([tɕʰ]) with the unaspirated 'j' ([tɕ]) or the retroflex 'ch' ([tʂʰ]).

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Keep your hand flat and steady at a high pitch level in front of your face, matching the high level tone.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 10 strokes

4. Components

Radical 冫 · Ice Radical (ice, cold, freezing)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 冫 (conveys the sense of freezing cold and frost)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 妻 (original sound: qī)

Combining the ice radical (冫) on the left with the phonetic component for wife/woman (妻) on the right creates the sense of freezing, biting cold that chills you to the bone.

冫 ice / cold
妻 phonetic clue providing the sound 'qī'

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

6· Phonetic Root: 妻 (qī)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally formed by combining the ice radical (冫) to represent biting cold and the phonetic element 妻 (qī) which also contributed to the bleak, sorrowful imagery associated with the character over time.

Semantic Evolution: Shifted from purely physical freezing temperatures to also encompass emotional desolation, bleakness, and mournful atmospheres.

Often paired with words like 凉 (liáng, cool/cold) to form 凄凉 (desolate).

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: セイ / Kun: sami.shii, tsu.mu

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

처

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Standing out in the freezing ice (冫), a lonely wife (妻) shivers with intense cold (qī), feeling completely bleak and mournful.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

妻

qīwifePhonetic Core (声旁)

悽

+ 忄 (heart)

棲

+ 木 (tree)

淒

+ 氵 (water)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

妻(qī)

妻 means 'wife' and lacks the ice dots (冫) on the left side.

凄(qī)

Note the exact stroke count and presence of the ice radical indicating cold.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

冬天的夜晚显得格外[___]凉。

Clue: qī

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the left radical 冫 (two strokes for ice) with 氵 (three strokes for water).

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does the character 凄 mean and how is it pronounced?

Production: How do you write the literary character for intense cold and bleakness (qī) using the ice radical?

凄qīintense cold, bleak, mournful

Speed:

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