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十六 (shí liù) — sixteen

Definition

numeral
sixteen

Examples

  • 十六。
    Wǒ men bān yǒu shí liù gè xué shēng.
    There are sixteen students in our class.
  • 十六。
    Tā jīn nián shí liù suì.
    She is sixteen years old this year.
  • 十六。
    Zhè běn shū de jià qián shì shí liù kuài.
    The price of this book is sixteen yuan.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

十shíten
六liùsix

十 gives ten and 六 gives six, so the number adds them to make sixteen.

Characters in this word

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

The early shape 十 was mostly a single vertical stroke, sometimes with a dot, and later gained a horizontal stroke to form a cross. For the number ten, it marked the next digit above one.

Open 十 →

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 →
Appears in
Numbers & Counting

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