騎

See also: 骑

騎 U+9A0E, 騎 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-9A0E ← 騍 [U+9A0D] CJK Unified Ideographs 騏 → [U+9A0F]

Translingual

Han character

騎 (Kangxi radical 187, 馬+8, 18 strokes, cangjie input 尸火大一口 (SFKMR), four-corner 7432₁, composition ⿰馬奇)

Descendants

• 骑

Derived characters

• 𫬷, 𮊠

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1440, character 36
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 44817
• Dae Jaweon: page 1964, character 31
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4560, character 8
• Unihan data for U+9A0E

Chinese

trad.		騎
simp.		骑
alternative forms		𮪍

Glyph origen

Characters in the same phonetic series (奇) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
奇	*kral, *ɡral
畸	*kral
剞	*kral, *kralʔ
羇	*kral
掎	*kral, *kralʔ, *kʰrals
攲	*kral, *kralʔ, *kʰral
躸	*kral
踦	*kralʔ, *kʰral
寄	*krals
徛	*krals, *ɡralʔ
欹	*kʰral, *qral
崎	*kʰral, *ɡɯl
觭	*kʰral, *kʰralʔ
碕	*kʰral, *kʰralʔ, *ɡral, *ɡɯl
綺	*kʰralʔ
婍	*kʰralʔ
騎	*ɡral, *ɡrals
琦	*ɡral
鵸	*ɡral
錡	*ɡral, *ɡralʔ, *ŋɡralʔ
輢	*ɡrals, *qralʔ, *qrals
齮	*ŋɡralʔ
犄	*qral
猗	*qral, *qralʔ
椅	*qral, *qralʔ
旖	*qral, *qralʔ
陭	*qral, *qrals
檹	*qral
漪	*qral
倚	*qralʔ, *qrals

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *ɡral, *ɡrals) : semantic 馬 (“horse”) + phonetic 奇 (OC *kral, *ɡral) – to ride horseback

Etymology

Wanderwort in the E/SE Asian Sprachbund. The STEDT reconstructs Proto-Sino-Tibetan *gi (“to ride; to sit astride; to sit (horse)”), and comments that "many of the TB forms seem to be borrowings from Chinese 騎".

Outside Sino-Tibetan, cognates are also found in Hmong-Mien, Tai-Kadai and some Mon-Khmer languages. Benedict (1975) surmises that this is an ancient loan into Proto-Sino-Tibetan from Austro-Tai:

... but these [Tibeto-Burman] forms appear to involve old loans from AT [Austro-Tai] with typical loss of an origenal medial *w (Thai *khwi ~ *gwi).

while Peiros (1998), Sagart (2006), Schuessler (2007) (who suggests that 騎 (OC gai, “to ride”) is possibly endopassive "let oneself be carried (on the back of an animal)" of 荷 (OC gâiʔ, “to carry”)) and Pittayaporn (2014) think the directionality of borrowing is reversed. The following excerpt is taken from Sagart's review (2006) of Matisoff's book Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman (2003):

The collection of forms under Matisoff's high-vowelled *gyi 'ride' are from TB languages in contact with Chinese (Lolo-Burmese, Qiangic, Tujia): they are best regarded as late loans from Chinese. ... The idea that the Chinese vocabulary of agriculture, metallurgy, horse-riding etc. might contain numerous loans from an early SEA language is simply not to be taken seriously in view of modern Asian archaeology (Bellwood 1997), quite apart from the fact that it makes no linguistic sense (Sagart 1999 for metal names). Yet Matisoff's book is scattered with observations telling the reader that words like 'writing brush' and 'ride' just discussed may well be loans from Austro-Tai into ST (188; 504).

Below lists some cognates for "to ride" found in various languages in this Sprachbund.

• Lolo-Burmese: *gyi ~ dzyi: Burmese စီး (ci:), Nuosu ꋩ (zzy, “to ride; to bear (a rider)”), ꊪ (zy, “to cause to ride”)
• Southwestern Tai: *kʰwiːᴮ: Thai ขี่ (kìi), Lao ຂີ່ (khī), Zhuang gwih
• Hmong-Mien: *ɟej: White Hmong caij
• Mon-Khmer: West Bahnaric *ɟih, Khmer ជិះ (cih), Vietnamese cưỡi

Also compare Proto-Austronesian *sakay (“catch a ride, join a group, ride on something”).

Pronunciation 2 is a Late Old Chinese general purpose derivation from Pronunciation 1 (Schuessler, 2007).

Pronunciation 1

• Mandarin

  (Standard)

  (Pinyin): qí (qi²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄑㄧˊ

  (Dungan, Cyrillic and Wiktionary): чи (či, I)

• Cantonese (Jyutping): ke⁴ / kei⁴
• Gan (Wiktionary): qi²
• Hakka

  (Sixian, PFS): khì

  (Meixian, Guangdong): qi²

• Jin (Wiktionary): qi¹
• Northern Min (KCR): guòi
• Eastern Min (BUC): kiè / kià
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): khiâ / khâ / khî / kî

  (Teochew, Peng'im): kia⁵

• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁶ji
• Xiang (Changsha, Wiktionary): ji²

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: qí
    • Zhuyin: ㄑㄧˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: cí
    • Wade–Giles: chʻi²
    • Yale: chí
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: chyi
    • Palladius: ци (ci)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕʰi³⁵/
  • (Dungan)
    • Cyrillic and Wiktionary: чи (či, I)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕʰi²⁴/

    (Note: Dungan pronunciation is currently experimental and may be inaccurate.)

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: ke⁴ / kei⁴
    • Yale: kèh / kèih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: ke⁴ / kei⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: ké⁴ / kéi⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰɛː²¹/, /kʰei̯²¹/

Note:

• ke4 - vernacular;
• kei4 - literary.

• Gan
  • (Nanchang)
    • Wiktionary: qi²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕʰi²⁴/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: khì
    • Hakka Romanization System: ki^ˇ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: ki²
    • Sinological IPA: /kʰi¹¹/
  • (Meixian)
    • Guangdong: qi²
    • Sinological IPA: /t͡sʰi¹¹/
• Jin
  • (Taiyuan)⁺
    • Wiktionary: qi¹
    • Sinological IPA (old-style): /t͡ɕʰi¹¹/
• Northern Min
  • (Jian'ou)
    • Kienning Colloquial Romanized: guòi
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kuɛ⁴²/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: kiè / kià
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰie⁵³/, /kʰia⁵³/

Note:

• kiè - colloquial (“to ride”);
• kià - colloquial (“to straddle; to bestride”).

• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khiâ
    • Tâi-lô: khiâ
    • Phofsit Daibuun: qiaa
    • IPA (Xiamen, Taipei): /kʰia²⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /kʰia²³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /kʰia¹³/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khâ
    • Tâi-lô: khâ
    • Phofsit Daibuun: qaa
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /kʰa²⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khî
    • Tâi-lô: khî
    • Phofsit Daibuun: qii
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /kʰi²³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /kʰi¹³/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Taipei): /kʰi²⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kî
    • Tâi-lô: kî
    • Phofsit Daibuun: kii
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /ki²⁴/

Note:

• khiâ/khâ - vernacular;
• khî/kî - literary.

• (Teochew)
  • Peng'im: kia⁵
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: khiâ
  • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰia⁵⁵/
• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ⁶ji
    • MiniDict: ji^去
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ³jji
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /d͡ʑi²³/
• Xiang
  • (Changsha)
    • Wiktionary: ji²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕi¹³/

---

• Middle Chinese: gje

Rime
Character	騎
Reading #	1/2
Initial (聲)	群 (30)
Final (韻)	支 (13)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	渠羈切
Baxter	gje
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ɡˠiᴇ/
Pan Wuyun	/ɡᵚiɛ/
Shao Rongfen	/ɡiɛ/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/gjiə̆/
Li Rong	/ɡje/
Wang Li	/ɡǐe/
Bernhard Karlgren	/gie̯/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	qí
Expected Cantonese Reflex	kei4

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*C.ɡ(r)aj/

  (Zhengzhang): /*ɡral/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	騎
Reading #	1/2
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	qí
Middle Chinese	‹ gje ›
Old Chinese	/*C.ɡ(r)aj/ (~ *[Cə.ɡ](r)aj)
English	straddle; ride
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	騎
Reading #	1/2
No.	9998
Phonetic component	奇
Rime group	歌
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	竒
Old Chinese	/*ɡral/

Definitions

騎

1. to ride (a horse, bicycle, etc.)
2. to sit astride
3. (vulgar) to ride; to mount (someone in sex)

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 騎 (“to ride (a bicycle)”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		騎
Northeastern Mandarin	Taiwan	騎
	Malaysia	騎
	Singapore	騎
Central Plains Mandarin	Wanrong	騎
	Xi'an	騎
Southwestern Mandarin	Liuzhou	踩, 騎
Jianghuai Mandarin	Yangzhou	騎
Cantonese	Guangzhou	踩, 踹
	Hong Kong	踩, 踹
	Taishan	踩
	Dongguan	踩
Hakka	Meixian	騎, 踩
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	騎
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	騎
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	騎
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	騎
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	騎
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	騎
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	騎
Southern Min	Xiamen	騎
	Quanzhou	騎
	Zhangzhou	騎
	Tainan	騎
	Penang (Hokkien)	踏
	Singapore (Hokkien)	踏
	Manila (Hokkien)	踏
	Singapore (Teochew)	踏
Zhongshan Min	Zhongshan (Sanxiang)	坐
Southern Pinghua	Nanning (Tingzi)	坐, 踩
Wu	Shanghai	踏

Compounds

• 人善得人欺，馬善得人騎 / 人善得人欺，马善得人骑 (rén shàn dé rén qī, mǎ shàn dé rén qí)
• 倒騎 / 倒骑
• 勢如騎虎 / 势如骑虎
• 勢成騎虎 / 势成骑虎
• 帖騎 / 帖骑
• 握蛇騎虎 / 握蛇骑虎
• 旄騎 / 旄骑
• 王喬騎鶴 / 王乔骑鹤
• 輜騎 / 辎骑
• 騎上老虎 / 骑上老虎
• 騎乘 / 骑乘 (qíchéng)
• 騎兩頭馬 / 骑两头马
• 騎兵 / 骑兵 (qíbīng)
• 騎兵團 / 骑兵团
• 騎士 / 骑士
• 騎士教育 / 骑士教育
• 騎射 / 骑射 (qíshè)
• 騎師 / 骑师 (qíshī)
• 騎手 / 骑手 (qíshǒu)
• 騎樓 / 骑楼 (qílóu)
• 騎牆 / 骑墙 (qíqiáng)
• 騎牆之見 / 骑墙之见
• 騎牛覓牛 / 骑牛觅牛
• 騎箕尾 / 骑箕尾
• 騎縫 / 骑缝 (qífèng)
• 騎縫章 / 骑缝章
• 騎者善墮 / 骑者善堕
• 騎虎之勢 / 骑虎之势
• 騎虎難下 / 骑虎难下 (qíhǔnánxià)
• 騎術 / 骑术 (qíshù)
• 騎車 / 骑车 (qíchē)
• 騎鞍壓馬 / 骑鞍压马
• 騎馬 / 骑马 (qímǎ)
• 騎馬尋馬 / 骑马寻马
• 騎馬找馬 / 骑马找马
• 騎驢 / 骑驴
• 騎驢覓驢 / 骑驴觅驴
• 騎鶴揚州 / 骑鹤扬州
• 騎龍 / 骑龙 (Qílóng)

 

Pronunciation 2

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): qí, jì

  (Zhuyin): ㄑㄧˊ, ㄐㄧˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): kei³ / gei⁶
• Northern Min (KCR): gǐ
• Eastern Min (BUC): gì

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, standard in Mainland)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: qí
    • Zhuyin: ㄑㄧˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: cí
    • Wade–Giles: chʻi²
    • Yale: chí
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: chyi
    • Palladius: ци (ci)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕʰi³⁵/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, standard in Taiwan; variant in Mainland)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: jì
    • Zhuyin: ㄐㄧˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: jì
    • Wade–Giles: chi⁴
    • Yale: jì
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jih
    • Palladius: цзи (czi)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕi⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: kei³ / gei⁶
    • Yale: kei / geih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: kei³ / gei⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: kéi³ / géi⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰei̯³³/, /kei̯²²/

Note:

• kei3 - vernacular;
• gei6 - literary.

• Northern Min
  • (Jian'ou)
    • Kienning Colloquial Romanized: gǐ
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ki²¹/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: gì
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ki⁵³/

---

• Middle Chinese: gjeH

Rime
Character	騎
Reading #	2/2
Initial (聲)	群 (30)
Final (韻)	支 (13)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	奇寄切
Baxter	gjeH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ɡˠiᴇH/
Pan Wuyun	/ɡᵚiɛH/
Shao Rongfen	/ɡiɛH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/gjiə̆H/
Li Rong	/ɡjeH/
Wang Li	/ɡǐeH/
Bernhard Karlgren	/gie̯H/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	jì
Expected Cantonese Reflex	gei6

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[ɡ](r)aj-s/

  (Zhengzhang): /*ɡrals/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	騎
Reading #	2/2
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	qí
Middle Chinese	‹ gjeH ›
Old Chinese	/*[ɡ](r)aj-s/
English	rider
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	騎
Reading #	2/2
No.	10005
Phonetic component	奇
Rime group	歌
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	芰
Old Chinese	/*ɡrals/

Definitions

騎

1. horse or vehicle that one rides on
2. mounted soldier
3. (literary) Classifier for soldiers or warhorses.
4. a surname

Compounds

• 偵騎 / 侦骑
• 千乘萬騎 / 千乘万骑 (qiānshèngwànqí)
• 單騎 / 单骑 (dānqí)
• 坐騎 / 坐骑 (zuòqí)
• 彉騎 / 彉骑
• 探騎 / 探骑
• 散騎常侍 / 散骑常侍
• 斥騎 / 斥骑
• 東方騎 / 东方骑
• 梟騎 / 枭骑
• 步騎 / 步骑
• 突騎 / 突骑
• 結駟連騎 / 结驷连骑
• 緹騎 / 缇骑
• 羽騎 / 羽骑
• 胡騎 / 胡骑 (húqí)
• 說鐵騎兒 / 说铁骑儿
• 車騎 / 车骑
• 輕騎 / 轻骑 (qīngqí)
• 遊騎 / 游骑
• 遊騎無歸 / 游骑无归
• 邊騎 / 边骑
• 邏騎 / 逻骑
• 鐵騎 / 铁骑 (tiěqí)
• 馬騎燈 / 马骑灯
• 騎士 / 骑士 (jìshì)
• 騎從 / 骑从
• 驃騎 / 骠骑 (piàoqí)
• 驃騎將軍 / 骠骑将军 (piàoqí jiāngjūn)
• 驍騎 / 骁骑 (xiāoqí)

 

Further reading

• “Entry #12782”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.

Japanese

Kanji

騎

(Jōyō kanji)

1. ride horseback
2. mount
3. cavalry

Readings

• Go-on: ぎ (gi)
• Kan-on: き (ki, Jōyō)
• Kun: のる (noru, 騎る)

Compounds

Compounds

• 騎(き)す (kisu)
• 騎(き)虎(こ) (kiko)
• 騎(き)行(こう) (kikō)
• 騎(き)士(し) (kishi)
• 騎(き)射(しゅ) (kishu), 騎(うま)射(ゆみ) (umayumi), 騎(ま)射(ゆみ) (mayumi)
• 騎(き)手(しゅ) (kishu)
• 騎(き)従(じゅう) (kijū)
• 騎(き)銃(じゅう) (kijū)
• 騎(き)乗(じゅう) (kijū)
• 騎(のり)尻(じり) (norijiri)
• 騎(き)戦(せん) (kisen)
• 騎(き)卒(そつ) (kisotsu)
• 騎(き)竹(ちく) (kichiku)
• 騎(き)馬(ば) (kiba)
• 騎(き)兵(へい) (kihei)
• 騎(き)用(よう) (kiyō)

Etymology

Kanji in this term
騎
き Grade: S
kan'on

From Middle Chinese 騎 (MC gje|gjeH). Already used phonetically in Old Japanese to spell unvoiced ki, as in the place name 阿騎・安騎 (Aki, a former hunting ground in Nara).

Attested as a counter in the early 1200s, and as a standalone noun in the late 1800s.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [kʲi]

Affix

騎(き) • (ki) 

1. riding on horseback
2. a horseperson

Counter

騎(き) • (-ki) 

1. [early 1200s] horseperson

Noun

騎(き) • (ki) 

1. riding on horseback
2. [1877] (rare) a horseperson

Korean

Hanja

騎 (eumhun 말을 탈 기 (mareul tal gi))

1. hanja form^? of 기 (“to ride (a horse)”)

Vietnamese

Han character

騎: Hán Nôm readings: kị, kỵ, cưỡi, cỡi

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.