Chinese word for crisis

Common card · No. 398666

In Western popular culture, the Chinese word for crisis (simplified Chinese: 危机; traditional Chinese: 危機; pinyin: wēijī, wéijī) is often incorrectly said to comprise two Chinese characters meaning 'danger' (wēi, 危) and 'opportunity' (jī, 机; 機). The second character is a component of the Chinese word for opportunity (jīhuì, 机会; 機會), but has multiple meanings, and in isolation means something more like 'change point' or inflection point. The mistaken etymology became a trope after it was used by John F. Kennedy in his presidential campaign speeches and has been widely repeated in business, education, politics and the press in the United States.

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