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# chi

«chi» in Mova's school dictionary: **The 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet, written χ, said…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (chi — the Greek letter; chi or qi — Chinese idea); (Mandarin, pinyin) chī, "to eat"

### meaning for a pupil

1) The 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet, written χ, said "kye" (rhymes with "sky"). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chi/#m1)

2) (Chinese tradition) Also spelled qi: in Chinese belief, a life energy said to flow through the body and nature, used in tai chi, kung fu and traditional medicine. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chi/#m2)

3) (Mandarin, pinyin) chī means "to eat", as in chī fàn, "eat a meal". It sounds like "chir" to an English ear and is not an English word. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chi/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In maths and science the Greek letter χ appears in statistics (the chi-squared test). In PE and culture lessons, tai chi is a slow exercise from China. In Mandarin on the street, "chī fàn le ma?" means "Have you eaten?", a friendly greeting. Phrases: "tai chi", "chi-squared".

### examples

- Grandma does tai chi in the park every morning. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chi/#x1)
- Chi is the Greek letter that looks like an x. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chi/#x2)
- Some people believe chi flows through the body. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chi/#x3)
- In Mandarin, chī means "to eat". [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chi/#x4)
- My friend said "chī fàn le ma?" to his grandad. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chi/#x5)
- Scientists say there is no proof that chi exists as a real energy. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chi/#x6)

### note

Pronounced "kye" for the Greek letter and "chee" for the Chinese energy (qi). "Qi" is the official pinyin spelling of the energy word. Saying "chi" is a belief in Chinese tradition, not a scientific fact. The Greek χ is not the English letter x.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «chi» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chi/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.