TongTong
Sign in

士气 (shì qì) — morale

Definition

士气 is the collective fighting or working spirit of a group (team, army, company). 气魄 is more individual — personal boldness and presence rather than shared morale.

noun
morale

Examples

  • 士气。
    Gōng sī lǐng dǎo xiǎng jìn bàn fǎ tí gāo shì qì.
    The company leaders tried every way to boost morale.
  • ，士气。
    Bǐ sài qián, jiào liàn gǔ lì dà jiā bǎo chí shì qì.
    Before the game, the coach encouraged everyone to maintain morale.
  • 。
    Jūn duì dī shì qì gāo zhǎng.
    The army's morale is high.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

士shìsoldier/officer
气qìspirit

士气 combines 士 (soldiers) and 气 (spirit), meaning the fighting spirit of a group.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape 士 comes from a simple drawing of a war axe. The character later came to mean a soldier, officer, or intellectual.

Open 士 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 氣; 气 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
米米mǐrice
Sound part声符shēngfú
气
气qì氣qì
Same sound today

The traditional form 氣 pairs 米 (rice) with 气, which supplies the sound; the simplified 气 is a later abbreviation.

Open 气 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Abstract Concepts

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.