三万两千 (sān wàn liǎng qiān) — thirty-two thousand

Definition

numeral
thirty-two thousand

Examples

  • 三万两千。
    Zhè ge chéng shì yǒu sān wàn liǎng qiān rén kǒu.
    This city has a population of 32,000.
  • 三万两千。
    Tā měi nián zhuàn sān wàn liǎng qiān yuán.
    He earns 32,000 yuan per year.
  • 三万两千。
    Xué xiào yǒu sān wàn liǎng qiān míng xué shēng.
    The school has 32,000 students.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

三 is drawn as three parallel strokes, like 一 with one stroke and 二 with two.

Open 三 →

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 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 兩; 两 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 兩 is described as combining 一 and 㒳. The simplified 两 is a later abbreviation.

Open 两 →

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 →

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