岂 (qǐ) is a Chinese character meaning “how could”. It is written from 山 (mountain) and 己 (oneself), one above the other, and takes 6 strokes.
Build the character for “how could...?”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
山 + 己
Top–bottom structure
Structure from: 现代字形拆分（依据 hanzi-writer-data 笔顺核验：山 3 画 + 己 3 画 = 岂 6 画）
Memory aid
A mountain (山) piled on top of 己, "self". A whole mountain on one person — how could that be?! That is exactly what 岂 asks: how could it possibly be so?
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
6 strokes
In real words
- 岂敢qǐ gǎnhow would I dare (humble reply to praise)岂 = qǐspoken asqí gǎn
- 岂不qǐ bùwouldn't it be...?; isn't it the case that...岂 = qǐ
Go deeper
All readings
how could...?
how could...?; surely not — a written rhetorical marker that expects the answer "no"
书面语，用在句首表示反问，意思是「难道」「怎么会」，预期的回答是否定的。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 岂敢qǐ gǎnhow would I dare (humble reply to praise)岂 = qǐspoken asqí gǎn
- 岂不qǐ bùwouldn't it be...?; isn't it the case that...岂 = qǐ
Easy to confuse with
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 岂 mean?
岂 (qǐ) means how could...?; surely not — a written rhetorical marker that expects the answer "no".
How do you pronounce 岂?
It is pronounced qǐ.
What parts is 岂 made of?
山 (mountain) and 己 (oneself), one above the other. The recorded source is: 现代字形拆分（依据 hanzi-writer-data 笔顺核验：山 3 画 + 己 3 画 = 岂 6 画）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 岂 have?
6. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 岂?
山. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 岂?
Common ones are 岂敢 and 岂不. The reading of 岂 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.