qigong

See also: qìgōng, qi-gong, and qi gong

English

people doing qigong exercises in a park in Gaoxiong, Taiwan

Alternative forms

• qi gong; chi kung (obsolete)

Etymology

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 氣功／气功 (qìgōng, “breath work, qi work”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tʃiːˈɡɒŋ/, /tʃiːˈkʊŋ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /tʃiˈɡɔŋ/, /tʃiˈɡʊŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɒŋ, -ʊŋ

Noun

qigong (usually uncountable, plural qigongs)

1. (fitness, alternative medicine) A Chinese system of breathing control, physical exercise and meditation. [from 20th c.]
   • 1998 May, Li HongZhi, CHINA FALUN GONG (REVISED EDITION) (English Version)‎^[1], Hong Kong: Falun Fo Fa Publishing Co., →ISBN, →OCLC, page 29:

     Some people may suddenly speak a language and speak it quite fluently. However, it is not a language of human society. What can it be called? It can be called "cosmic language" (宇宙語). Actually it is nothing but a language of subtle beings in a space only a little bit higher than ours. Now quite a few of qigong practitioners in China have had such an experience. Some can even speak several such languages.

   • 2004, Judith Orloff, Positive Energy, page 112:

     My patients laud qigong as a stressbuster and cure for pesky chronic symptoms that baffle doctors.

Related terms

• Ba Duan Jin

Translations

system of breathing control

• Catalan: txi-kung m
• Chinese:

  Hokkien: 氣功／气功 (zh-min-nan) (khì-kong)

  Mandarin: 氣功／气功 (zh) (qìgōng)

• Czech: čchi-kung m
• Esperanto: ĉigongo
• French: qi gong (fr) m, qigong (fr) m, chi gong m, chi kung m
• German: Qigong (de) n, Tschigong n (pronunciation spelling for qìgōng), Chigong n
• Greek: τσι κουνγκ n (tsi koungk), τσι γκουνγκ n (tsi gkoungk), τσιγκόνγκ n (tsigkóngk), τσι γκονγκ n (tsi gkongk), τσι κονγκ n (tsi kongk)
• Japanese: 気功 (ja) (きこう, kikō)
• Korean: 기공(氣功) (ko) (gigong)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: çîgong f

• Portuguese: qigong m, qi-gong m
• Russian: цигу́н (ru) m (cigún)
• Spanish: qigong m, chi kung m
• Thai: ชี่กง (th)
• Uyghur: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: khí công (vi)

Further reading

• “qigong”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• qigong, qi gong, chi kung at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• qi-gong

Noun

qigong m (uncountable)

1. (alternative medicine) qigong (a Chinese system of body movement and meditation)