吉 jí lucky
lucky; propitious; good
How it came to be
The old dictionary reads it as a scholar's mouth: what a person of standing says. The oldest forms look more like a weapon stored point down in its rack: safe, and so lucky.
用法
- 'Auspicious, lucky' - 吉祥 (jíxiáng) auspicious, 吉利 (jílì) lucky/favorable, common in New Year and wedding language.
- Antonym of 凶 (xiōng, ominous): the fortune-telling pair 吉/凶 = lucky/unlucky outcome - 凶多吉少 (xiōng duō jí shǎo) more bad luck than good.
- Also a pure phonetic in loanwords: 吉他 (jítā) guitar, 吉普 (jípǔ) jeep.