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六百万 (liù bǎi wàn) — 6,000,000; six million

Definition

Compound numeral meaning 'six million' (6,000,000). Combine with 量词 like 美元, 册 to count large sums — 六百万人 means six million people.

numeral
6,000,000six million

Examples

  • 六百万。
    Zhōng guó yǒu liù bǎi wàn rén kǒu.
    China has six million people.
  • 六百万。
    Zhè ge xiàng mù tóu zī le liù bǎi wàn měi yuán.
    This project invested six million dollars.
  • 六百万。
    liù bǎi wàn Cè tú shū yào juān zèng gěi xué xiào.
    Six million books will be donated to schools.

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liùsix
百万million
百bǎihundred万wànten thousand
偏正Modifier + head

“六” means six and “百万” means million, so the number is six 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yī
Sound part声符shēngfú
白
白bái百bǎi
Same sound today

百 combines 一, which carries the number meaning, with 白, which provides the sound.

Open 百 →

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 →
Appears in
Numbers & Counting

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