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数百万 (shù bǎi wàn) — several million

Definition

numeral
several million

Examples

  • 数百万。
    Zhè ge chéng shì yǒu shù bǎi wàn rén kǒu.
    This city has a population of several million.
  • 数百万。
    Gōng sī qù nián yíng lì shù bǎi wàn měi yuán.
    The company made a profit of several million dollars last year.
  • 数百万。
    Dì zhèn dǎo zhì shù bǎi wàn rén shī qù jiā yuán.
    The earthquake caused several million people to lose their homes.

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.

数shùseveral
百万million
百bǎihundred万wànten thousand
偏正Modifier + head

数 means several, 百 means hundred, and 万 means ten thousand, together giving several million.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 數; 数 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
攴攴pū
Sound part声符shēngfú
婁
婁lóu數shù(r)
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 數 pairs 攴, the meaning part, with 婁, the sound part; the simplified 数 is a shorthand.

Open 数 →

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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