The traditional character for Qi consists of two parts: the upper conveying the idea of steam rising, and the lower is a pot of rice cooking. So we have solid, liquid and gas; we have heat and energy, we have transformation, we have basic nourishment.

In my modern (communist, materialist, dialectical) Chinese dictionary, the first definition of Qi is gas, the 2nd is air, 3rd is breath, 4th is smell, 5th is weather. On through airs, manner, spirit and morale, it's not until the 11th definition that we come to the notation <Chinese medicine> vital energy, energy of life. Yet all these others give insight: the air we breathe, the action of breathing which begins at birth and ends at death, the smell of good food that gives us nourishment, the internal climates of the body, the carriage of the body, the spirit reflected in our eyes are examples of Qi.

In Chinese medicine, the food we eat and the air we breathe bring Qi into our bodies, therefore it is important to eat good quality food and breathe clean air. Food Qi and Air Qi are transformed into other types of Qi -- Upright Qi which keeps us conscious and functioning, Defensive Qi which helps us stay healthy in the face of external pathogens, and each organ has its own Qi: Kidney Qi, Lung Qi, Liver Qi, Spleen Qi, Stomach Qi. Heart Qi, etc., each with its own functions.

Because Chinese does not use an alphabet, there are various ways to express the sounds of Chinese words using the English alphabet.

The oldest system is called Wade-Giles, introduced by Sir Thomas Wade in 1859, and developed into a stable system by his successor in Chinese Studies at Cambridge University, Herbert Giles, who published an English-Chinese dictionary in 1912. In this system, the most familiar from Chinese restaurant menus (but not much help in English pronounciation) and still in use in Taiwan and Hong Kong, this character is spelled Ch'i.

Another system, called Yale, was developed during WWII for Air Force pilots and now is used mostly by sinologists (scholars of Chinese language and culture). It is not commonly used in medical texts. In this system, the character is spelled Chi.

In the 1950s, Chinese scholars, with the help of Russian linguists, developed a new system called Hanyu Pinyin. Adopted throughout the new People's Republic along with simplifed versions of characters to promote literacy, this character is spelled Qi. Modern translations of medical texts from the People's Republic use Pinyin, and it is the spelling I use for Chinese terms.

In all cases, the word is pronounced "chee," briskly and not drawn out. The tip of the tongue is placed behind the lower teeth, not at the ridge on the upper palate as we would normally do. As Chinese is a tonal language, there is a distinct downward falling of tone in this word.

In Japan, where the traditional versions of the Chinese characters are used along with two syllabaries, the word is pronounced "kee" and spelled Ki using English letters. We see this in the martial art of Aikido and the healing art of Reiki.

The internal art of Tai Ji Quan (Pinyin) is spelled Tai Chi Ch'uan in Wade-Giles, another internal art is spelled Qi Gong and Ch'i Kung. Other examples most people are familiar with: in Wade-Giles the name of the Chinese capital is Peking and the Chairman was Mao Tse-tung, in Pinyin it is Beijing and Mao Zedong. For more info on Chinese spelling and pronounciation, click here or here.