岂 qǐ what

源How it came to be

A drum with a mark over it, in the full form. It was the drumming that welcomed an army home, later borrowed for the question that expects the answer no.

用How it is used

• A rhetorical 'how could...?' expecting a negative answer: 岂有此理 (qǐyǒucǐlǐ) how outrageous!, 岂能 (qǐ néng) how can it be that..., 岂不 (qǐ bù) wouldn't it be...
• 岂止 (qǐzhǐ) = far more than just. Literary/emphatic; equivalent to 难道 in the spoken register.

字Characters built with 岂

• 凯 triumphant

词Words with 岂

• 岂有此理qǐyǒucǐlǐhow can this be so? (idiom)HSK 8