ci

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ci"

Languages (34)

English

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Aka (Central Africa) • Balinese • Bambara • Corsican • Dalmatian • Dhimal • Esperanto • French • Hausa • Ido • Indonesian • Interlingua • Italian • Kangjia • Kanuri • Latgalian • Latin • Malay • Mandarin • Noone • Nupe • Old French • Old Irish • Polish • Romanian • Sicilian • Tarantino • Tedim Chin • Venetan • Walloon • Welsh • White Hmong • Zhuang

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Page categories

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Mandarin 詞／词 (cí).

Noun

ci (uncountable)

1. One of the Classical Chinese poetry forms

Anagrams

• -ic, IC, I²C

Aka (Central Africa)

Noun

ci

1. water

Further reading

• Marvin Lionel Bender, Topics in Nilo-Saharan linguistics (1989) (cí, cì)
• [1] (ɕi)

Balinese

Romanization

ci

1. Romanization of ᬘᬶ

Bambara

Etymology 1

Noun

cí

1. thatch, especially of the species Diheteropogon grandiflorus

Etymology 2

Noun

cí

1. commission, errand
2. message, order
3. mission, task, assignment

   ò cí bɛ́ í kàn

   it is your duty

4. work, labor (especially agricultural)

   cí kɛ́

   to work in the fields

5. usefulness, utility

   cí tɛ́ nìn ná

   that's useless

Verb

cí

1. to send, charge with a mission

   sɛ́bɛn cí mɔ̀gɔ mà

   to send a letter to someone

Etymology 3

Verb

cì

1. to hit

   fíyɛn bɛ́ cì

   the wind is blowing

   fàli cì

   to hit an donkey

2. to break

   à y'á kùn cì

   He knocked him unconscious

3. to destroy
4. to split, divide, cut

   dɔ́gɔ cì

   to split wood

5. to burst, explode with a loud noise

   màrifa cì

   to fire off a round (with a gun)

6. to trace, tattoo

   bála cì

   to plot an area of a field to be hoed

   tùgu cì

   to vaccinate in the arm

Noun

cì

1. line, stroke
2. tattoo

Corsican

Etymology

Ultimately from either Latin hīc (“here”) or hinc (“from here”). Akin to Italian ci; see there for more. Compare Sicilian cci.

Adverb

ci

1. there

Pronoun

ci

1. us (both direct and indirect object)

See also

Corsican personal pronouns

		Nominative	Dative	Accusative	Disjunctive
Singular	1st person	eiu	mi		mè
	2nd person	tù	ti		tè
	3rd person m	ellu	li	u, l'	ellu
	3rd person f	ella		a, l'	ella
Plural	1st person	noi	ci		noi
	2nd person	voi	vi		voi
	3rd person m	elli	li	i, l'	elli
	3rd person f	elle		e, l'	elle

References

• https://infcor.adecec.net/

Dalmatian

Etymology

From Latin quem. Compare Portuguese quem, Romanian cine, Spanish quien, Romansch che, Sardinian chíne.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃi/

Pronoun

ci

1. who

Dhimal

Noun

ci

1. water

Further reading

• John T. King, A Grammar of Dhimal

Esperanto

Etymology

From Italian or French tu, Russian ты (ty), etc., plus the i of personal pronouns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [t͡si]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ci

Pronoun

ci (accusative cin, possessive cia)

1. (rare) thou, you (second-person informal singular pronoun)
   • 1905, Ludoviko Lazaro Zamenhof, Fundamento de Esperanto:

     Mi legas. — Ci skribas (anstataŭ “ci” oni uzas ordinare “vi”).

     I read. — Thou writest (instead of “ci” one ordinarily uses “vi”.)

   • 1899, Felikso Zamenhof, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     Ekamis la konato / Kaj reciproke ŝi; / Post paso de monato / Ŝanĝiĝis »Vi« per »ci«.

     Her acquaintance fell in love / and reciprocally she; / after the passage of a month / "You" changed into "thee".

   • 1907, Henri Vallienne, Kastelo de Prelongo, ch. 6:

     Cia sintenado estos vere fiera, li moke murmuretis en ŝian orelon, kiam ci estos vekinta la tutan loĝantaron.

     Thine attitude shall be truly proud, he mockingly whispered into her ear, when thou shalt have awakened the whole population.

Usage notes

Some people believe that this word was used in the past and then became archaic, but this is not true. Actually, this word has never been in common usage; Zamenhof advised against using 'ci' as early as the Dua Libro de l' Lingvo Internacia, published in 1888. Many Esperantists don't even understand it. Some authors have used 'ci' to portray archaic language, for translations, and for stylistic effects. This usage is criticized by other writers.

• Ludwig L. Zamenhof, Dua Libro de l' Lingvo Internacia; Ludwig L. Zamenhof, Lingvaj Respondoj; Bertilo Wennergren, Plena Manlibro de Esperanta Gramatiko (PMEG); Bernard Golden, La Gazeto #11, June 15, 1987; Zlatko Tisjlar, Frekvencmorfemaro de Parolata Esperanto.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Late Latin ecce hīc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /si/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: si, scie, scies, scient

Adverb

ci

1. (in compounds, else archaic) Alternative form of ici (“here”)
2. (after a noun) see -ci

Derived terms

• ceci
• ci-après
• ci-avant
• ci-contre
• ci-dessous
• ci-dessus
• ci-devant
• ci-gît
• ci-joint
• comme ci comme ça
• ici
• par-ci, par-là

References

• “ci”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Hausa

Etymology

From Proto-Chadic, ultimately from Proto-Afroasiatic *taʔ- (“to eat, especially something soft, to close lips, especially loosely”). Compare Akkadian 𒋫𒀪𒌑 (ta-ʔu-u₂ /⁠ta'u⁠/, “to eat”), Mehri tewō (“eat”), Arabic تَأْتَأَ (taʔtaʔa, “to stammer, to stutter, to reduplicate sounds, to mumble or move lips”), and with varying Berber forms Tamahaq ⵜⵜ (tǝtt), Tarifit ⵜⵜ (tǝtt), Central Atlas Tamazight ⵜⵛ (tc), and Kabyle teṭṭ (pharyngeal-coloring found as well in the Arabic variant تَعْتَعَ (taʕtaʕa), and in that sense possible further connections to طَعِمَ (ṭaʕima, “to taste”) and عَضَّ (ʕaḍḍa, “to bite”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃí/
  • (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃɪ́]

Verb

ci (grade Ø)

1. to eat, to eat soft things

Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tsi/

Determiner

ci

1. Alternative form of ici (“these”)

Pronoun

ci

1. Alternative form of ici (“these”)

Indonesian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈt͡ʃi]
• Hyphenation: ci

Etymology 1

From Xiamen Hokkien 錢／钱 (chîⁿ, “mace”).

Noun

ci (first-person possessive ciku, second-person possessive cimu, third-person possessive cinya)

1. (obsolete) weight unit: 1/10 tahil (for opium).

Etymology 2

From Sundanese ᮎᮤ (ci), ultimately from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

Noun

ci (first-person possessive ciku, second-person possessive cimu, third-person possessive cinya)

1. river (large stream which drains a landmass), specifically, those located in Banten, West Java, and far-western Central Java

Synonyms

• alir
• alur
• batang
• bengawan
• kali
• sungai
• wai

 

Etymology 3

Noun

ci (first-person possessive ciku, second-person possessive cimu, third-person possessive cinya)

1. alternative form of encik.
2. alternative form of taci (“elder sister”).

Further reading

• “ci” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Interlingua

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tsi/

Adverb

ci

1. here (at this place)

Italian

Etymology 1

From Latin cē (the name of the letter C).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (most common outside of Tuscany) /ˈt͡ʃi/^*
• Rhymes: -i
• Hyphenation: cì

Noun

ci f (invariable)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter C/c.; cee

See also

• (Latin-script letter names) lettera; a, bi, ci, di, e, effe, gi, acca, i, gei / i lunga, cappa, elle, emme, enne, o, pi, cu, erre, esse, ti, u, vu / vi, doppia vu, ics, ipsilon / i greca, zeta

Further reading

• ci² in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Etymology 2

Uncertain. Rohlfs and Von Wartburg favoured/favored Late Latin ecce hīc. Maiden casts doubt on this etymology, pointing out that Italian ci is an unstressed 'weak' form, while Latin hic otherwise survives in Italian only in stressed forms (reinforced by Latin ecce or eccum) such as ciò, qua, and qui. (It should also be noted that all of the latter trigger syntactic doubling in a following word, thanks to their original final /k/, while ci does not.) Maiden proposes instead an origin in Latin hince, variant of hinc (“hence, from here”), pointing out that in parts of southern Italy there exists a 1PL pronoun 'nci (cf. also 'nce). Treccani, on the other hand, proposes an origin in Latin hīce, a variant of hīc (“here”). In any case, the Italian term is certainly cognate with Neapolitan ce, Sicilian cci and Sassarese zi, all three of which share similar adverbial senses, with the latter two also having pronominal senses.

Alternative forms

• -ci (enclitic)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃi/, (Sicily, Calabria) ^*/t͡ʃi/
• Hyphenation: ci

Pronoun

ci

1. us

   Loro ci conoscono ― They know us

2. (reflexive pronoun) ourselves; each other

   Ci arrabbiamo ― We (ourselves) get angry

   Ci amiamo ― We love each other

3. to us

   Lui ci ha detto questo ― He said this to us

4. replaces the indefinite personal pronoun si (“one”) before reflexive si (“oneself”); one

   Ci si lava. ― One washes oneself.

   Ci si annoia quando non c'è niente da fare.

   One gets bored when there is nothing to do.

5. it, to it

   Non ci credo. ― I do not believe it.

Usage notes

• Becomes ce when followed by a third person direct object clitic (lo, la, li, le, or ne).

See also

Italian personal pronouns

Number	Person	Gender	Nominative	Reflexive	Accusative	Dative	Combined	Disjunctive	Locative	Partitive
Singular	first	—	io	mi, m', -mi			me	me	—
	second	—	tu	ti, t', -ti			te	te
	third	m	lui	si2, s', -si	lo, l', -lo	gli, -gli	glie, se2	lui, sé	ci, c', vi, v' (formal)	ne, n'
		f	lei, Lei1		la, La1, l', L'1, -la, -La1	le3, Le1, -le3, -Le1		lei, Lei1, sé
Plural	first	—	noi	ci, c', -ci			ce	noi	—
	second	—	voi, Voi4	vi, Vi4, v', V'4, -vi, -Vi4			ve	voi, Voi4
	third	m	loro, Loro1	si, s', -si	li, Li1, -li, -Li1	gli, -gli, loro (formal), Loro1	glie, se	loro, Loro1, sé	ci, c', vi, v' (formal)	ne, n'
		f			le, Le1, -le, -Le1
1	Third person pronominal forms used as formal terms of address to refer to second person subjects (with the first letter frequently capitalised as a sign of respect, and to distinguish them from third person subjects). Unlike the singular forms, the plural forms are mostly antiquated terms of formal address in the modern language, and second person plural pronouns are almost always used instead.
2	Also used as indefinite pronoun meaning “one”, and to form the passive.
3	Often replaced by gli, -gli in informal language.
4	Formal (capitalisation optional); in many regions, can refer to just one person (compare with French vous).

Adverb

ci

1. to there, here, there

   Synonym: vi (formal)

   Ci sono andato ― I have been there

   Ci siamo ― We're here

   Ci sono molte cose ― There are many things

   C'è un problema ― There is a problem

2. forms part of many verbs:

   volerci ― to require/take

   abituarci ― to get used to it

   riuscirci ― to be able to do it

   entrarci ― to do with something

   contarci ― to count on it

   pensarci ― to think about it

   starci ― to agree / to be up for something

   farcela ― to manage to do something

   crederci ― to believe it

See also

• ivi
• là
• qua
• qui

Etymology 3

Alternative forms

• tchi, twi, kyi

Noun

ci m (uncountable)

1. the Twi language family

Further reading

• ci¹ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• ci² in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• ci³ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Kangjia

Etymology

From Proto-Mongolic *či; compare Mongolian чи (či), Dongxiang chi.

Pronoun

ci

1. you

Kanuri

Noun

ci

1. mouth

Latgalian

Etymology

Borrowed from Belarusian ці (ci).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈt͡sʲi]
• Hyphenation: ci

Particle

ci

1. Used to form polar questions.

Synonyms

• voi

References

• A. Andronov, L. Leikuma (2008) Latgalīšu-Latvīšu-Krīvu sarunu vuordineica, Lvava, →ISBN, page 13

Latin

Verb

cī

1. second-person singular present active imperative of ciō

Malay

ci

Etymology

From Sundanese ᮎᮤ (ci).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃi/
• Rhymes: -t͡ʃi, -i

Noun

ci (Jawi spelling چي, plural ci-ci, informal 1st possessive ciku, 2nd possessive cimu, 3rd possessive cinya)

1. river (large stream which drains a landmass)

Synonyms

• alir
• alur
• batang
• bengawan
• kali
• sungai
• wai

Further reading

• “ci” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

Mandarin

Romanization

ci

1. Nonstandard spelling of cī.
2. Nonstandard spelling of cí.
3. Nonstandard spelling of cǐ.
4. Nonstandard spelling of cì.

Usage notes

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Noone

Verb

ci

1. strike

Synonyms

• kfune
• nyɛw
• suŋ

References

• R. Blench, Beboid Comparative

Nupe

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃī/

Conjunction

ci

1. Used to order actions temporally: then; and

   Musa à bá nakàn yínna, Gàná ci à gí eci yínna ― Musa will cut meat today, and Gana will eat yam today

Usage notes

• ci is solely used to join verbs/sentences and not nouns, for which tò is used. Additionally, when ci is used, the subject of each verb must be specified.

See also

• ma

Old French

Etymology

From Late Latin ecce hīc.

Adverb

ci

1. here (in this place)
   • c. 1250, Marie de France, Guigemar:

     Va t'en de ci ! Lai me aveir pes.

     Go, leave this place! Let me have peace.

Descendants

• French: ici, ci

Old Irish

Pronoun

ci

1. Alternative form of cía

Conjunction

ci

1. Alternative form of cía

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ɕi/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -i
• Syllabification: ci

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

• (stressed) tobie

Etymology 2

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *ti.

Pronoun

ci

1. short dative singular of ty.

Etymology 3

Pronoun

ci m

1. virile nominative plural of ten

Romanian

Etymology

From ce.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃi/

Conjunction

ci

1. (adversative) but; so that; on the contrary, opposite

   Nici eu, ci el. ― Not I, but he.

See also

• dimpotrivă
• dar

Sicilian

Alternative forms

• cci

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈtʃi]
• (unstressed) IPA^(key): [tʃɪ]

Etymology 1

Akin to Italian ci; see there for more.

Adverb

ci

1. here, there

Etymology 2

Pronoun

ci

1. dative of iddu (“he”); to him
2. dative of idda (“she”); to her
3. dative of iddi (“they”); to them

Usage notes

• Unlike in Italian, the Sicilian pronoun ci is not used for the first-person plural ('us'). The Sicilian equivalent is ni.

Inflection

3rd person	m	f	pl
nominative	iddu	idda	iddi
prepositional	iddu	idda	iddi
accusative	lu	la	li
dative	ci	ci	ci
reflexive	si	si	si

Tarantino

Pronoun

ci (relative)

1. who

Tedim Chin

Etymology

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *tsii, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-tsji.

Noun

ci

1. salt

References

• Zomi Ordbog based on the work of D.L. Haokip

Venetan

Etymology

From Latin quis (compare Italian chi).

Pronoun

ci (interrogative)

1. who?

Usage notes

• Redoubled for reinforcement.

  Ci èlo ci?

  Who on earth is he?

Walloon

Etymology

From Old French cist, from Latin ecce istum (< iste).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /si/

Determiner

ci (after an open syllabe : ç', feminine : cisse, masculine form before vowel : cist, feminine form before vowel : ciste, plural : ces)

1. this

   Ci rotch

   This rock

   C' est ç' rotch-ci

   It's this rock

   Cist ome

   This man

   Cisse gayole

   This box

   Ciste afwaire

   This affair

   Ces måjhons

   These houses

Pronoun

ci (before a vowel : c', alternative form : çou)

1. it, this

   Ci m' fwait må

   It hurts me

   C' est on ome

   It a man

Welsh

ci

Etymology

From Middle Welsh ci, from Proto-Brythonic *ki, from Proto-Celtic *kū, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kiː/
• Rhymes: -iː

Noun

ci m (plural cŵn)

1. dog

Coordinate terms

• gast (“bitch (all senses)”)

Derived terms

• bresych y cŵn (“ dog's mercury”)
• ci poeth (“hotdog”)
• ciaidd (“savage, fierce”)
• corgi (“corgi”)
• cynaidd (“canine”)
• cynffongi (“sycophant, sponger”)
• cynol (“canine”)
• dwrgi (“otter”)
• gellgi (“a Welsh staghound”)
• gwenci (“weasel”)
• hyddgi (“staghound”)
• (literary) ciros (“dog roses”)
• rhos y cŵn (“dog roses, sweetbriers”)
• rhosyn y cŵn (“dogrose”)
• ufferngi (“hell-hound”)

 

Mutation

Mutated forms of ci

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
ci	gi	nghi	chi

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

White Hmong

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ci˧/

Verb

ci

1. to cook, to roast, to toast
2. to glow, to shine

Zhuang

Pronunciation

• (Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /ɕi˨˦/
• Tone numbers: ci¹
• Hyphenation: ci

Etymology 1

From Chinese 車 (MC tsyhae).

Noun

ci (1957–1982 spelling ci)

1. vehicle

Classifier

ci (1957–1982 spelling ci)

1. carload of; cartload of; truckload of

Verb

ci (1957–1982 spelling ci)

1. to sew with a sewing machine
2. to machine on a lathe

Etymology 2

From Chinese 吹 (MC tsyhwe).

Verb

ci (Sawndip form 𫩝, 1957–1982 spelling ci)

1. (intransitive, of wind) to blow

   Synonyms: (dialectal) baed, (dialectal) daet, (dialectal) boq, (dialectal) coi

2. (transitive) to blow

   Synonym: (dialectal) baed

3. (transitive) to play (a wind instrument)
4. (transitive) to pump (a bellows)

   Synonyms: (dialectal) daz, (dialectal) boz

Etymology 3

From Chinese 催 (MC tshwoj).

Verb

ci (1957–1982 spelling ci)

1. to urge

   Synonyms: (dialectal) cui, (dialectal) dok

Etymology 4

From Chinese 支 (MC tsye).

Classifier

ci (1957–1982 spelling ci)

1. Used for stick-like objects.