In traditional Chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to a broad range of medicine practices sharing common theoretical concepts which have been developed in China and are based on a tradition of more than 2,000 years, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage , exercise , and dietary therapy...

 and Chinese culture, yuán qì (元氣) is a description of one form of qi

Qi

In traditional Chinese culture, qì is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts...

. It is usually described as "innate" or "pre-natal" qi to distinguish it from acquired qi that a person may develop of their lifetime.

Porkert describes the concept as "the metaphorical designation of the inborn constitution, the vital potential that is gradually used up in the course of life. It may be conserved but never replenished."

The term has been used since at least Yuan dynasty

Yuan Dynasty

The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...

times.

Usage in Japanese

In modern times it has come to be used in a colloquial manner in Japanese (where it is pronounced genki (元気)) to mean "healthy" or "energetic", a usage that has more recently been borrowed back into Chinese. This colloquial usage of the term forms the basis of a variety of Japanese expressions, including the standard casual greeting, genki desu ka (元気ですか), which translates to "are you well?". As the equivalent of "How are you doing?" in English, it is a rhetorical question and generally answered in the affirmative.