千千万万 (qiān qiān wàn wàn) — thousands upon thousands; a vast number

Definition

An emphatic reduplication meaning 'thousands upon thousands, countless' — stronger and more literary than 很多 or 许多. The doubling of 千 and 万 intensifies the sense of a vast, innumerable quantity.

bound form

thousands upon thousandsa vast number

Examples

千千万万。
Zhè cì zāi nàn duó zǒu le qiān qiān wàn wàn rén de shēng mìng.
This disaster took the lives of thousands upon thousands of people.
千千万万。
qiān qiān wàn wàn De yóu kè měi nián dōu lái zhè ge chéng shì lǚ yóu.
Millions of tourists come to this city every year.
千千万万。
Tā xīn lǐ yǒu qiān qiān wàn wàn jù huà xiǎng duì nǐ shuō.
There are thousands upon thousands of words he wants to say to you.

Origin

Reduplicated word

构词法gòucífǎ

重叠chóngdiéReduplication

A syllable said twice — for affection, for softness, or simply because that is how the word is said.

千千

千qiānthousand千qiānthousand

万万

万wànten thousand万wànten thousand

千 and 万 are doubled to stress an enormous number.

Characters in this word

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 →

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 →

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

Idioms & Set Phrases Numbers & Counting

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.