Definition
口气 (kǒu qì) means the tone of voice that reveals the speaker's attitude (e.g., dissatisfaction, arrogance). It contrasts with 语气 (yǔ qì, HSK5), which is a more neutral term for 'tone' and also covers grammatical mood; and with 声调 (shēng diào, HSK6), which refers to pitch/intonation. In 口气大/不小, it means boastful talk (cf. 水分 shuǐ fèn for exaggeration in data).
noun
tone of voicemanner of speaking(in 口气大/不小) boastful talkexaggeration
Examples
- 口气，。Tīng tā shuōhuà de kǒu qì, hǎoxiàng duì zhè jiàn shì hěn bù mǎn.From the way she speaks, it seems she's quite dissatisfied with this matter.
- 口气。Nǐ zhè zhǒng kǒu qì ràng wǒ hěn bù shūfu.This tone of yours makes me very uncomfortable.
- 口气，。Tā de kǒu qì zhēn bù xiǎo, jūrán shuō zìjǐ néng dāng shàng zǒngtǒng.He really talks big—he actually claims he can become president.
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