How to Write 杞 (qǐ) — Meaning “wolfberry; surname Qi”

Imagine a wolfberry tree (木) that you keep for yourself (己) because goji berries are healthy and precious. The picture of a "self-owned tree" helps link the shape to the meaning of wolfberry. You can also remember the idiom 杞人忧天 by picturing a person worrying under a wolfberry tree.

Write the left radical 木 first (stroke order: 横, 竖, 撇, 捺), then the right part 己 (stroke order: 横折, 横, 竖弯钩). A common mistake is making the 捺 of 木 too long, which throws off the balance with 己. Also, the vertical hook of 己 should curve slightly outward, not be straight like a final stroke.

杞 is a left-right structure (木+己), while 未 and 末 are single characters with no such split. Visually, 未 has a shorter top horizontal line and longer bottom line (meaning "not yet"), whereas 末 has a longer top line (meaning "tip" or "end"). 杞 is the only one related to the wolfberry plant.

杞 appears most often in 枸杞 (gǒu qǐ), the goji berry, which is widely used in Chinese cooking and herbal medicine. The idiom 杞人忧天 (qǐ rén yōu tiān) comes from an ancient story about a man from the state of Qi who worried the sky would fall, and now means having groundless fears. 杞 is also a rare Chinese surname.

Common words containing 杞 include: 枸杞 (gǒu qǐ) — goji berry; wolfberry; 杞人忧天 (qǐ rén yōu tiān) — groundless fears; to worry unnecessarily; 杞子 (qǐ zi) — goji berries.