HSK 6 · Verbs
激发 jīfā “to arouse” in Chinese
Traditional 激發
What 激发 means
- to arouse
- to stimulate
- to inspire
- (physics) to excite
How to say 激发
激jī1st tone, high and level
发fā1st tone, high and level
激发 in a sentence
How 激发 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.

激jīto arouse
- 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
- 敫ancient musical instrument · jiǎoSound part
氵 hints at the meaning (water); 敫 (jiǎo) hints at the sound. Compare it with jī.

发fāto send out
发 is a single shape of 5 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.
How to write 激发
激 16 strokes · 发 5 strokes
Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

Words related to 激发
Words with 激
激动jīdòng · excited刺激cìjī · to stimulate激烈jīliè · (of competition or fighting) intense感激gǎnjī · to be grateful冰激凌bīngjīlíng · ice cream激励jīlì · to encourage激情jīqíng · passion
Words with 发
发fā · send out发烧fāshāo · have a fever头发tóufa · hair on the head发现fāxiàn · discover发生fāshēng · to happen发展fāzhǎn · development理发lǐfà · to get a haircut出发chūfā · to set off沙发shāfā · sofa发言fāyán · to make a speech
More words: Thinking & Talking
FAQs
激发 (jīfā) means “to arouse” or “to stimulate”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it jīfā: jī with a 1st tone, then fā with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 激发 is written 激發. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type jifa with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 激发 from the suggestions. Typing jifa into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
激发 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.
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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.