Several parts combine into one character.

起 is a phonetic-semantic compound: 走 (rún / zǒu, depicting a person with bent legs running) on the left provides the meaning, while 己 (jǐ, "self") on the right provides the sound. The composite reads as "to extend the body upward and begin to move" — to rise, to stand up, to get going. From this concrete bodily motion grew the abstract sense "to begin / commence / cause to happen." A character about getting out of bed in the morning becomes the universal verb of beginning anything.

Korean reading "gi." 起立 (girip, "rise-stand" = to stand up — the command from a teacher at the start of class in Korean schools), 起源 (giwon, origin / genesis), 起床 (gisang, "rise from bed" = getting up in the morning), 起伏 (gibok, "rise and fall" = ups and downs of fortune), 起訴 (giso, indictment / starting a lawsuit — legal term), 再起 (jaegi, comeback / rising again). The character spans daily, legal, and literary registers.

Mandarin qǐ, 3rd tone. 起 (qǐ), 起来 (qǐlái, to get up / stand up — and grammatically a key verbal complement), 起床 (qǐchuáng, get out of bed), 一起 (yīqǐ, together — extremely common: 我们一起去 wǒmen yīqǐ qù, "let's go together"), 起初 (qǐchū, at first / originally). Critical Mandarin grammar: the construction Verb + 起来 marks aspectual onset — 笑起来 (xiào qǐlái, "to start laughing"), 想起来 (xiǎng qǐlái, "to remember / recall"). This 起来 complement is one of the most important grammatical patterns in spoken Chinese.

Japanese on-reading キ (ki) — 起立 (kiritsu, standing up), 起源 (kigen, origin), 起床 (kishō, getting up in the morning), 起業 (kigyō, founding a business / startup). Three kun-readings split into the famous Japanese intransitive / transitive / passive triad: 起きる (okiru, to get up / wake up — intransitive), 起こす (okosu, to wake someone up — transitive), 起こる (okoru, "to happen / occur" — events arising of themselves). Memorizing this 起きる / 起こす / 起こる set is essential for Japanese learners; the same character takes three different verb forms based on who is doing what to whom. Note also the homophone caution: おこる appears for both 起こる (to occur) and 怒る (to be angry) — different kanji, same pronunciation.

Memory aid: 走 (running figure with bent legs) plus 己 (just for the sound) — the body extending upward to stand and move.