كي

From Proto-Semitic *kiyā, a deictic particle, related to *ka.

كَيْ • (kay)

1. in order that (followed by the subjunctive)

   عَلَيْكَ أَنْ تَدْرُسَ كَيْ تَنْجَحَ.

   ʕalayka ʔan tadrusa kay tanjaḥa.

   You have to study to be successful

• لِكَيْ (li-kay)
• لِ (li)

كَيْ • (kay)

1. (rare) because of, for

   كَيْمَ؟ ― kayma? ― Why?

كَيّ • (kayy) m

1. verbal noun of كَوَى (kawā, “to sear; to iron; to sting”) (form I)
   • c. 1200, يحيى بن محمد بن أحمد بن العوام [yaḥyā ibn muḥammad ibn ʔaḥmad ibn al-ʕawwām], edited by José Antonio Banqueri, كتاب الفلاحة [Book on Agriculture], volume 2, Madrid: Imprenta Real, published 1802^IA, Cap. 33, page 601:

     يؤخذ طرخشقون مجفف وعدس ونورة أجزاء سواء ويسحق الجميع وينخل ويعجن بسمن بقري عتيق ثم يوضع منه على فتيلة ويدخل في الناصور نافع وربما نفع وربما نفع منه الكي بالنار.

     One takes dried dandelion and lentils and lime at equal parts and grinds all and sieves and kneads with old cow butter and then one applies from it unto a wick and enters the fistula. It may be successful, however cauterization might prove more effective.

   • 2018, وَجْدِيّ الْأَهْدَل [wajdiyy al-ʔahdal], أرض المؤامرات السعيدة, Bayrūt: Nawfal / Hachette Antoine, →ISBN, page 182:

     خظر ببالي أن أشكرها على غسلها وكيّها لملابسي،

     It came to my mind that I thank her for washing and ironing my clothes.

Ultimately Chinese 氣／气 (qì).

كِي • (kī) f

1. (usually defined) qi energy

Compare Hebrew כִ֗י (kī) in Job 39:27, occurring together with נֶשֶׁר (néšer, “eagle; vulture”) and there sometimes, albeit dubiously, given the meaning “vulture”. אִם־עַל־פִּ֭יךָ יַגְבִּ֣יהַּ נָ֑שֶׁר וְ֝כִ֗י יָרִ֥ים קִנֹּֽו: “Is it upon your behest that the eagle and the vulture soars and makes his nest high?” Otherwise it is the well-known emphasizing particle כִּי (kī): “Is it upon your behest that the eagle soars, and yea, makes his nest high?”. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

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كُي • (kuy) m

1. (obsolete) ibis or pelican

ـكي • (-ki) f

1. Alternative spelling of ـكِ

ـكي • (-ki) f

1. Alternative spelling of ـكِ