六千万 (liù qiān wàn) — 60 million

Definition

Literally 'six ten-thousands ten-thousands' — i.e. 60,000,000 / 60 million. Combine the digit form 六千万 with 元, 人, or 倍 when stating a quantity.

numeral
60 million
Easily confused

Examples

  • 六千万。
    Zhè ge guó jiā yǒu liù qiān wàn rén kǒu.
    This country has a population of 60 million.
  • 六千万。
    Tā zhōng le liù qiān wàn dà jiǎng.
    He won a grand prize of 60 million.
  • 六千万。
    Gōng sī qù nián zhuàn le liù qiān wàn yuán.
    The company earned 60 million yuan last year.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

六千six thousand
六liùsix千qiānthousand
偏正Modifier + head
万wànten thousand

六千 gives the number of 万 units, so the value is 6,000 ten-thousands, i.e. 60 million.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 六 may come from a simple drawing of a shed, or from an ancient counting mark.

Open 六 →

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 →

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 →

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