Wikipedia:Chinese word for "crisis"

The Chinese word for "crisis" is, in Western popular culture, frequently but incorrectly said to be composed of two Chinese characters signifying "danger" (wēi, 危) and "opportunity" (jī, ). The second character is a component of the Chinese word for "opportunity" (jīhuì, ), but has multiple meanings, and in isolation means something more like "change point". The mistaken etymology became a trope after it was used by John F. Kennedy in his presidential campaign speeches and is widely repeated in business, education, politics and the press in the United States.

Etymology
Sinologist Victor H. Mair of the University of Pennsylvania states the popular interpretation of weiji as "danger" plus "opportunity" is a "widespread public misperception" in the English-speaking world. The first character wēi (危) does indeed mean "dangerous" or "precarious", but the second, highly polysemous, character jī does not mean "opportunity" in isolation, but something more like "change point". The confusion likely arises from the fact that the character for jī is a component of the Chinese word for "opportunity", jīhuì.

History
American linguist Benjamin Zimmer has traced mentions in English of the Chinese term for "crisis" as far as an anonymous editorial in a 1938 journal for missionaries in China. However, its use likely gained momentum in the United States after John F. Kennedy employed this trope in campaign speeches in 1959 and 1960: "In the Chinese language, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters, one representing danger and the other, opportunity."

Referring to the word has since become a staple meme for American business consultants and motivational speakers, as well as gaining popularity in educational institutions, politics and in the popular press. For example, in 2007, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice applied it during Middle East peace talks. Former Vice President Al Gore has done so numerous times: in testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee; in the introduction of An Inconvenient Truth; and in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance lecture.

Benjamin Zimmer attributes the appeal of this anecdote to its "handiness" as a rhetorical device and optimistic "call to action", as well as to "wishful thinking".