一千零一 (yī qiān líng yī) — one thousand and one

Definition

A numeral in the "1000 + X" pattern, where 零 stands in for the missing hundreds and tens digits. Read each digit separately: yī qiān líng yī.

numeral

one thousand and one

Examples

一千零一。
Zhè běn xiǎo shuō yǒu yī qiān líng yī yè.
This novel has one thousand and one pages.
一千零一。
Tā huā le yī qiān líng yī kuài qián mǎi le zhāng jiù zhuō zi.
He spent one thousand and one yuan to buy an old desk.
一千零一。
yī qiān líng yī Yè shì zhù míng de ā lā bó gù shi jí.
One Thousand and One Nights is a famous collection of Arab tales.

Origin

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

一 is drawn as one horizontal stroke, marking the number one.

Open 一 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

一一yīone, signifying a number

Sound part声符shēngfú

人

人rén千qiān

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

千 pairs 人, whose sound was similar, with 一, a number stroke; the extra line was explained as extension, and a thousand is a number reached by extending counting.

Open 千 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

雨令零

Meaning part形符xíngfú

雨雨yǔrain

Sound part声符shēngfú

令

令lìng零líng

Same sound today

In 零, the 雨 part depicts thick raindrops falling from the sky; the 令 part gives the sound.

Open 零 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.