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万千 (wàn qiān) — myriad, countless

Definition

A literary adjective-like word meaning 'myriad, countless' — used in writing for large, overwhelming quantities (people, feelings, scenes). Pair 千万 instead when you mean 'be careful not to / absolutely must not'.

verb
myriadcountless

Examples

  • 万千。
    Zhè wàn qiān fēng jǐng lìng rén táo zuì.
    These myriad landscapes are intoxicating.
  • 万千。
    Tā xīn zhōng chōng mǎn wàn qiān gǎn kǎi.
    His heart is filled with myriad feelings.
  • 万千。
    wàn qiān Guān zhòng wèi tā gǔ zhǎng.
    Countless audience members applauded for him.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

万wànten thousand
千qiānthousand

万 and 千 are large round numbers put together to mean countless.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 萬; 万 is its simplified writing.

For 万, the form 萬 was originally a picture of a scorpion, later borrowed for its sound to write 'ten thousand'; the scorpion picture is unrelated to that number.

Open 万 →

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 →
Appears in
Quantity & Amount

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