幾

幾 (Kangxi radical 52, 幺+9, 12 strokes, cangjie input 女戈竹戈 (VIHI), four-corner 2225₃, composition ⿻⿻𢆶戈人(G) or ⿹⿻𢆶戈人(HTJK))

• 僟, 嘰, 㙨, 機, 璣, 禨, 磯, 穖, 耭, 蟣, 譏, 䟇, 䤒, 鐖, 鞿, 饑, 魕, 㡮

• き (Hiragana character derived from Man'yōgana)
• キ (Katakana character derived from Man'yōgana)
• 𛀤
• 𛀥

• 几 (In simplified Chinese)

In standards of Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan, the 人 component in the lower left of 幾 touches but does not cross the horizontal stroke in the 戈 component. In standard of Mainland China, the top of the 人 component crosses over the horizontal stroke in the 戈 component.

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 342, character 14
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 9208
• Dae Jaweon: page 652, character 3
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1095, character 8
• Unihan data for U+5E7E

Historical forms of the character 幾
Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意): 𢆶 (“silk threads; little things”) + 戍 (“to guard against”) – watching over the fine details.

Note that the simplified form 几 (OC *krilʔ, “small table”) is also a traditional character on its own.

幾

1. how much; how many

   幾位？／几位？  ―  Jǐwèi?  ―  How many people ?

   你要幾瓶？／你要几瓶？  ―  Nǐ yào jǐ píng?  ―  How many bottles do you want?

   你會說幾種語言？
   你会说几种语言？

   Nǐ huì shuō jǐ zhǒng yǔyán?

   How many languages do you speak?

2. (of number, time, date) what; which

   幾點鐘了？／几点钟了？  ―  Jǐ diǎnzhōng le?  ―  What time is it?

   今天幾號？／今天几号？  ―  Jīntiān jǐ hào?  ―  What's the date today?

   你幾號？／你几号？  ―  Nǐ jǐ hào?  ―  What's your number?

   你幾幾年的？／你几几年的？  ―  Nǐ jǐ jǐ nián de?  ―  What year were you born?

3. a few; some; several

   我邊等邊瀏覽幾本雜誌。
   我边等边浏览几本杂志。

   Wǒ biān děng biān liúlǎn jǐ běn zázhì.

   I browsed through some magazines while I waited.

   幾天後他將回來。
   几天后他将回来。

   Jǐ tiān hòu tā jiāng huílái.

   He will be back in a few days.

   同幾首歌／同几首歌   ―  tung⁴ gei² sau² go¹   ―  the same old songs

4. (of numeral amounts) some; something; odd

   八十幾年／八十几年  ―  bāshí jǐ nián  ―  eighty-something years; eighty-odd years

   八幾年／八几年   ―  baat³ gei² nin⁴   ―  the '80s

   三點幾嚟，飲茶先呀！
   三点几嚟，饮茶先呀！

   From: 飲茶哥

   saam¹ dim² gei² lai⁴, jam² caa⁴ sin¹ aa³!

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

5. (dialectal Mandarin, Cantonese, Gan, Hakka, Pinghua) how; how much

   佢今年幾大呀？
   佢今年几大呀？

   keoi⁵ gam¹ nin^4-2 gei² daai⁶ aa³?

   How old is she this year?

   有幾難啫？／有几难啫？   ―  jau⁵ gei² naan⁴ ze¹?   ―  How hard can it be?

6. (dialectal Mandarin, Cantonese, Gan, Hakka, Pinghua, Xiang) how; so; such
7. (Cantonese) quite; rather; really; very; pretty

   幾好睇／几好睇   ―  gei² hou² tai²   ―  quite good-looking

   • (Can we date this quote?), 人生多麼好 ‎, spoken by 許冠傑:

     嗰時我媽媽就要一支支噉啲衣裳竹呢，就掛住啲衫要用佢插落去。幾辛苦㗎，有事會跌啲竹落街㗎。
     嗰时我妈妈就要一支支噉啲衣裳竹呢，就挂住啲衫要用佢插落去。几辛苦㗎，有事会跌啲竹落街㗎。

     go² si⁴ ngo⁵ maa^1-4 maa¹ zau⁶ jiu³ jat¹ zi¹ zi¹ gam² di¹ ji¹ soeng⁴ zuk¹ ne¹, zau⁶ gwaa³ zyu⁶ di¹ saam¹ jiu³ jung⁶ keoi⁵ caap³ lok⁶ heoi³. gei² san¹ fu² gaa³, jau⁵ si⁶ wui⁵ dit³ di¹ zuk¹ lok⁶ gaai¹ gaa³.

     My mother used to take bamboo poles like those, hang clothes on them and poke them down. It was rather difficult, and sometimes they would fall into the street.

   • (Can we date this quote?), “紅茶館”, performed by 陳慧嫻:

     你冇女朋友？梗係唔信啦！冇理由㗎。你…幾好呀！
     你冇女朋友？梗系唔信啦！冇理由㗎。你…几好呀！

     nei⁵ mou⁵ neoi⁵ pang⁴ jau⁵? gang² hai⁶ m⁴ seon³ laa¹! mou⁵ lei⁵ jau⁴ gaa³. nei⁵... gei² hou² aa³!

     You don't have a girlfriend? Of course I don't believe you! Impossible. You're… not bad!

• (quite): 挺 (tǐng), 頗／颇 (pō)

• → Thai: กี่ (gìi, “how many; how much”)
• → Northern Thai: ᨠᩦ᩵
• → Khün: ᨠᩦ᩵
• → Lü: ᦂᦲᧈ (k̇ii¹)

幾

1. (obsolete) fine; slight; minute
2. (obsolete) dangerous
3. (obsolete) alternative form of 機 / 机 (jī, “governmental affairs”)
4. (obsolete) symptom of a trend; omen
5. almost; nearly

   • 公大笑曰：「今日幾為小賊所困乎！」
     公大笑曰：「今日几为小贼所困乎！」

     From: Biography of Cao Man annotation in Records of the Three Kingdoms vol. 1

     Gōng dàxiào yuē: “Jīnrì jǐ wèi xiǎo zéi suǒ kùn hū!”

     The lord laughed out loud and said: "Today I was almost trapped by that little bandit !"

   • 資產階級頑固派完全不知道歷史的變化，其知識的貧乏幾等於零。
     资产阶级顽固派完全不知道历史的变化，其知识的贫乏几等于零。

     From: 1940, 毛澤東 (Mao Zedong), 《新民主主義論》 (On New Democracy), 《毛澤東選集》. English translation based on the Foreign Languages Press edition

     Zīchǎnjiējí wángùpài wánquán bù zhīdào lìshǐ de biànhuà, qí zhīshi de pínfá jī děngyú líng.

     The bourgeois die-hards have no understanding whatsoever of historical change; their knowledge is so poor that it is practically nonexistent.

幾

1. (obsolete) to be near; to reach; to attain; to achieve

幾

1. (obsolete) alternative form of 冀 (jì, “to hope; to look forward to”)
2. (obsolete) alternative form of 紀 / 纪 (“age; year”)

• “幾”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.

(Jōyō kanji)

1. how many (いく)
2. almost, nearly (ほとんど)
3. omen (きざし)
4. please (こいねがう)

• Go-on: け (ke)
• Kan-on: き (ki, Jōyō)
• Kun: いく (iku, 幾, Jōyō)、いくつ (ikutsu, 幾つ)、いくら (ikura, 幾ら)、ほとんど (hotondo, 幾ど)、きざし (kizashi, 幾し)、こいねがう (koinegau, 幾う)^{←こひねがふ (kofinegafu, 幾ふ, historical)}
• Nanori: い (i)、く (ku)

Ultimately from Proto-Japonic *eku.

幾(いく) • (iku) 

1. some, several

幾(いく) • (iku-) 

1. how many, how much

   幾(いく)箱(はこ)要(い)りますか。

   Iku-hako irimasu ka.

   How many boxes do you want?

2. some, several, having an indefinite number or quantity

   幾(いく)千(せん)と云(い)う人(ひと)

   iku-sen to iu hito

   several thousand people

3. some, many, having a considerable number

   幾(いく)日(にち)も行(い)っていた。

   Iku-nichi mo itte ita.

   I was gone for many days.

幾 (eumhun 기미 기 (gimi gi))

1. hanja form^? of 기 (“how many, how much”)
2. hanja form^? of 기 (“a few, some”)

幾: Hán Nôm readings: cơ, kỉ, ki

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.