HSK 5 · Emotions

运气 yùnqi “luck (good or bad)” in Chinese

Traditional 運氣

What 运气 means

  1. luck (good or bad)

How to say 运气

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale运yùn4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own气qineutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

运气 in a sentence

  1. 我今天的运气真好。

    Wǒ jīntiān de yùnqi zhēn hǎo.

    I’m really lucky today.

    Sentence #348510 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 迟早他的运气会用完。

    Chízǎo tā de yùnqi huì yòng wán.

    Sooner or later his luck will run out.

    Sentence #765548 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  3. 如果我运气够好的话，说不定会赢。

    Rúguǒ wǒ yùnqi gòu hǎo dehuà, shuōbudìng huì yíng.

    If I’m lucky enough, I might win.

    Sentence #787379 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 运气 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 运 (yùn) with each of its parts in a different colour
运yùnto move
  • 云cloud · yúnSound part
  • 辶walking form of 辵 · chuòMeaning part

辶 hints at the meaning (walking); 云 (yún) hints at the sound. Compare it with yùn.

The character 气 (qì) drawn as one shape
气qìgas; airlight in 运气

气 is a single shape of 4 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidDrawn from layers of vapour rising: air, steam, breath.

How to write 运气

运 7 strokes · 气 4 strokes

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

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

Words related to 运气

Words with 运

运动yùndòng · to exercise运动员yùndòngyuán · athlete运动会yùndònghuì · sports meet运输yùnshū · to transport运用yùnyòng · to use幸运xìngyùn · fortunate命运mìngyùn · fate运算yùnsuàn · mathematical operation运行yùnxíng · to run托运tuōyùn · to check in (luggage)

Words with 气

天气tiānqì · weather不客气bú kèqi · you’re welcome生气shēngqì · angry气qì · air力气lìqi · strength空气kōngqì · air气候qìhòu · climate脾气píqi · temper淘气táoqì · naughty小气xiǎoqì · stingy

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

幸运xìngyùn · fortunate遗憾yíhàn · regret勇气yǒngqì · courage愿望yuànwàng · desire在乎zàihu · to care about珍惜zhēnxī · to treasure自豪zìháo · proud (of an achievement)爱不释手àibúshìshǒu · to love something too much to put it down

FAQs

运气 (yùnqi) means “luck (good or bad)”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it yùnqi: yùn with a 4th tone, then qi with a neutral 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, 运气 is written 運氣. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yunqi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 运气 from the suggestions. Typing yunqi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
运气 is an HSK 5 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.