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一二三四五 (yī èr sān sì wǔ) — one, two, three, four, five (counting sequence)

Definition

The first five numerals counted together — used in children's counting, rhythm, and rhyme, not as a literal number. The full counting set is 一二三四五六七八九十.

numeral
onetwothreefourfive (counting sequence)

Examples

  • 一二三四五。
    Xiǎo péng yǒu zài xué shù yī èr sān sì wǔ.
    The children are learning to count one-two-three-four-five.
  • 一二三四五，。
    yī èr sān sì wǔ, Shàng shān dǎ lǎo hǔ.
    One-two-three-four-five, go up the mountain to fight the tiger (from a nursery rhyme).
  • 一二三四五。
    Tā yì biān zǒu yì biān niàn zhe yī èr sān sì wǔ.
    He walked while chanting one-two-three-four-five.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

一 is drawn as one horizontal stroke, marking the number one.

Open 一 →

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

二 is drawn as two parallel strokes, where the number of strokes shows the amount.

Open 二 →

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

三 is drawn as three parallel strokes, like 一 with one stroke and 二 with two.

Open 三 →

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

The form 四 was drawn as a nose breathing out. It later came to be used for the word four.

Open 四 →

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

An older form had a crossed mark between a top bar and a bottom bar. The modern 五 keeps those bars, while the original idea is uncertain.

Open 五 →
Appears in
Numbers & Counting

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