Objective To understand the symptom experience of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and to provide refe-rence for targeted symptom management. Methods A descriptive qualitative design was used. A purposive sample of 16 patients with MCI was recruited.Individual face-to-face interviews were conducted with a semi-structured interview guideline.Content analysis was adopted to analyze the data. Results Three themes and seven sub-themes were extracted:symptom perception included cognitive symptoms, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and physical symptoms; symptom evaluation included lack of correct cognition on symptom and impact on self; and symptom coping included negative coping and positive coping. Conclusion Symptoms in MCI patients are complex and mutually interact with each other.Patients seem to lack knowledge of MCI symptoms, and some of them adopt negative coping.Health literacy of middle-aged and older adults should be improved, symptom assessment tool and intervention program for MCI should be constructed, and multifaceted social support should be provided to alleviate the symptom burden of MCI patients.