几

幾
jǐ
HSK 3
#211 most
frequent character
how much, how many, several, a few
noun
pronoun

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

几 began as a picture of a table. The reading jī later gained 'small' by sound loan, then 'close, nearly'. The reading jǐ was also borrowed for its sound, meaning 'how many', and grew to 'some quantity'.

Drawn as: table

几 as a component in other characters

meaning3 characters
凭壳凳
sound12 characters
机凯肌玑饥讥叽矶麂凫虮処
empty6 characters
风亮咒凰凫殳

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Example Sentences

你有几个苹果？
nǐyǒu jǐgè píngguǒ ？
How many apples do you have?
这几天我很忙。
zhèjītiān wǒ hěn máng 。
I have been very busy these few days.
你想喝几杯水？
nǐxiǎng hē jī bēi shuǐ ？
How many glasses of water do you want to drink?

Grammar Points

HSK 2
Using "ji" to mean "several"
HSK 1
Measure words in quantity questions
HSK 3
Expressing "nearly" with "jihu"

Same Characters, Different Readings

几jī
almost
几jī
small table

Words with similar meanings

一些yīxiē
some
More general than '几', indicating an unspecified number or amount, often used in both singular and plural contexts.
几个jǐgè
several
Typically used to refer to a small number that is greater than one but not many, similar in usage but emphasizes plurality.

Homophones

挤jǐ
squeeze, press, crowd, push
济jǐ
used in 濟濟|济济[ji3 ji3]
己jǐ
self, oneself
给jǐ
to supply, to provide

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Public Lists with 几

HSK 3
All words for the HSK 3 test
Measure Words
Commonly used measure words (个, 张, 本, etc.) across various contexts.
Numbers & Counting
Numerals, counting words, and measure words frequently used with numbers.
Question Words
Who, what, where, when, why, how, which, and other interrogatives.