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In the oracle bone script, it was represented by three horizontal strokes, expressing the "feeling" of the sky. However, in order to avoid confusion with the number 三 (OC *suːm, *suːms), 气 (OC *kʰɯds) was changed to draw a small stroke from top to bottom.
Its variant is 乞 (OC *kʰɯds, *kʰɯd) and was later used to distinguish a phonetically borrowed meaning, "to beg".
Semantically unrelated to 氣 (OC *kʰɯds, *qʰɯds) and its variant 餼 (OC *qʰɯds) due to a different meaning ("give food as a gift").
Etymology 1
For pronunciation and definitions of 气 – see 氣 (“gas; air; etc.”). (This character is the simplified and variant form of氣).
Notes:
Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China, Malaysia, and Singapore.