亟

jí

urgently, immediately, extremely

Meaning

  • Temporal urgency: Urgently, immediately, or without delay; a pressing necessity.
  • Qualitative extremity: Extremely, exceedingly, or to the utmost; functions as an intensifier of degree.
  • Frequency: In specific contexts, may indicate repetition ("frequently" or "again and again").

Grammar and usage

  • Preceding a verb: Typically indicates temporal urgency.
  • Preceding an adjective: Functions as a degree modifier.
  • Reduplicated (亟亟): Shifts focus to internal psychological states, such as breathless anticipation, eagerness, or desperate anxiety.

Distinctions

  • Contrast with 急: While often interchangeable in meaning, 亟 generally carries a more formal or literary register.

Translator notes

  • The glyph suggests a "pressing" force. When translating, distinguish whether the text is "pressing the clock" (urgency) or "pressing the scale" (extremity).

Decontextualized translator aid. This page describes plausible lexical range; it does not choose what the glyph means in a particular passage.