Chinese character Ji

The word around 纪 determines its meaning. In 纪律 it concerns rules or discipline; in 年纪 it means age; in 世纪 it helps name a century; and in 纪念 it means to commemorate. Translate the whole word instead of assigning 纪 one fixed English equivalent.

Pinyin is the Latin-letter system for writing Mandarin sounds. These compounds use jì, with a falling tone. As a surname, 纪 is read jǐ, with a dipping tone; it is not automatically that reading whenever it appears in a name.

纪 vs 记?

Use 记 for everyday remembering or writing something down. 纪 shares an older record-related sense, but modern compounds keep it in words for rules, chronology, and commemoration. Spell established words such as 纪念 with 纪; sound alone will not tell you which character to choose.

Where does 纪 come from?

Its older form is tied to ordering silk threads. An ancestral form engraved on bronze objects in the Western Zhou, an early Chinese dynasty, is attested around 900 BCE. Shuowen, an early Chinese dictionary compiled around 100 CE, explains 紀 through separating silk threads. The thread-order idea connects with later senses of rules, ordered time, and records.

These early examples belong to the history of 紀; they do not show that the modern simplified shape 纪 existed then. Japanese also uses 紀.