Anger

The character ‘气’(qì) can mean a lot of things in Chinese language, mostly related with personality. Words like ‘消气’(xiāo qì) and ‘生气’(shēng qì) might be hard to remember, but after reading this article it should be easy for you to take them on-board.

The character ‘气’(qì) can mean ‘anger’, so the word ‘生气’(shēng qì) literally means ‘given birth to anger’. For example, ‘他很生气’(tā hěn shēng qì), which means ‘he is very angry’. On the contrary, the word ‘消气’(xiāo qì) is the opposite of ‘生气’(shēng qì). The character ‘消’(xiāo) means ‘ to put out’, so ‘消气’(xiāo qì) literally means ‘to put out anger’. For example, ‘你先消气, 有什么话好好说’ (nǐ xiān xiāo qì, yǒu shén mè huà hǎo hǎo shuō’ which means ‘ you should cool down first, and then talk a bit nicer’.