HSK Guide

qǐngplease; to ask, to request; to invite; to treat someone (to a meal)

qǐng (third tone, dipping)

繁体:

please; to ask, to request; to invite; to treat someone (to a meal)

10 画部首 词频 #343

拼音

  • qǐng (third tone, dipping)

please; to ask, to request; to invite; to treat someone (to a meal)

字形拆解

Ideographic description

⿰讠青The sequence reads left to right and describes how the parts are arranged.

  • meaning partno entry yetThe speech radical, the compressed form of 言: a request is made in words.
  • sound partno entry yet青 qīng is here for its sound, not its meaning; the same phonetic runs through 清 qīng, 情 qíng and 晴 qíng.

Mnemonic

Words 讠 next to 青 qīng, which is present for the sound alone (qīng → qǐng). Everything 请 does, it does with the mouth: 请进 invites someone in, 请问 opens a question politely, 请客 means picking up the bill. Learn it together with 清 "clear" and 晴 "fine weather" — one phonetic, three radicals.

A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.