HSK 6 · Ideas

起源 qǐyuán “origin” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 起源 means

  1. origin
  2. to originate
  3. to come from

How to say 起源

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale起qǐ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale源yuán2nd tone, rising

起源 in a sentence

  1. 奥林匹克的起源是什么？

    Àolínpǐkè de qǐyuán shì shénme?

    What are the origins of the Olympics?

    Sentence #334994 from Tatoeba

How 起源 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 起 (qǐ) with each of its parts in a different colour
起qǐto rise
  • 走walk · zǒuMeaning part
  • 己self · jǐSound part

走 hints at the meaning (walk); 己 (jǐ) hints at the sound. Compare it with qǐ.

The character 源 (yuán) with each of its parts in a different colour
源yuánroot
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 原source · yuánSound part

氵 hints at the meaning (water); 原 (yuán) hints at the sound. Compare it with yuán.

How to write 起源

起 10 strokes · 源 13 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

起源 (qǐyuán) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 起源 (qǐyuán). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 起源

Words with 起

对不起duìbuqǐ · sorry一起yìqǐ · together起床qǐchuáng · to get up起qǐ · to rise起飞qǐfēi · take off in an aeroplane起来qǐlai · beginning or continuing an action引起yǐnqǐ · to give rise to看不起kànbuqǐ · to look down upon了不起liǎobuqǐ · amazing起初qǐchū · at first

Words with 源

资源zīyuán · resources能源néngyuán · energy电源diànyuán · power supply根源gēnyuán · root来源láiyuán · source源泉yuánquán · source

More words: Ideas & Concepts

情形qíngxing · situation气势qìshì · momentum启示qǐshì · inspiration齐心协力qíxīnxiélì · to work together全局quánjú · overall situation圈套quāntào · trap渠道qúdào · channel缺口quēkǒu · gap

FAQs

起源 (qǐyuán) means “origin” or “to originate”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it qǐyuán: qǐ with a 3rd tone, then yuán with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 起源 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type qiyuan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 起源 from the suggestions. Typing qiyuan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
起源 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.