How to write 起 (qǐ, “to rise”)

起 (qǐ), an HSK 1 character, means “to rise”, “to raise” and “to get up”. It pairs a meaning part, 走 (“to walk”), with a sound part, 己 (“oneself”). On its own it is an HSK 3 word; it also forms 起床 (“to get out of bed”), 对不起 (“I'm sorry”) and 一起 (“the same place”). Japanese reads it ki, “rouse”, as a JLPT N4 kanji.

Pinyin: qǐ
Strokes: 10
HSK: 1
Radical: 走 (“to walk”)

Stroke by stroke

As a bottom-left wrap character it splits into 走 (“to walk”, the radical), strokes 1–7; 己 (“oneself”), strokes 8–10, written the wrap first.

top leftrightwards
top leftdownwards
leftrightwards
leftdownwards
centerrightwards
leftdown and left
leftdown and right → rightwards
toprightwards → down and left
centerrightwards
centerdown and right → upwards

Names of the strokes

Japanese and Chinese

The two models differ in shape, so our comparison does not claim an order; compare the numbered frames yourself (10 strokes in Japanese, 10 strokes in Chinese).

Japanese · KanjiVG · 10 strokes

Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 10 strokes

Where 起 comes from

walk

Meaning part: 走 (“to walk”)
Sound part: 己 (“oneself”)

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Pinyin and meaning

Pinyin	Meanings	Traditional	In words
qǐ third tone	to rise; to raise; to get up; to set out; to start	—	起床对不起一起起来

HSK 2025 syllabus: level 1
2021 standard: level 1
HSK 2.0: in a level 1 word
Words with it: 252 in CC-CEDICT

Words with 起

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
起	qǐ	to rise; to raise HSK 3
起床	qǐchuáng	to get out of bed; to get up HSK 1
对不起對不起	duìbuqǐ	I'm sorry; excuse me HSK 1
一起	yìqǐ	the same place; together HSK 2
起来起來	qǐlái	to stand up; to get up HSK 2
起飞起飛	qǐfēi	to take off; to lift off HSK 3
起到	qǐdào	to have (a (motivating etc) effect); to play… HSK 4
引起	yǐnqǐ	to give rise to; to lead to HSK 4
了不起	liǎobuqǐ	amazing; terrific HSK 5
发起發起	fāqǐ	to originate; to initiate HSK 5

HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).

Practice sheet

Print at 100%. Several characters: worksheet maker.

Keep going

HSK 1, in list order: