(wàn) — ten thousand

Definition

万 (wàn) means ten thousand. It fits between 千 (thousand) and 亿 (hundred million) in the large-number scale.

numeral
ten thousand

Examples

  • Gōng yuán lǐ yǒu yí wàn duǒ huā.
    There are ten thousand flowers in the park.
  • Tā yǒu yí wàn kuài qián.
    He has ten thousand yuan.
  • Xué xiào yǒu bā wàn gè xué shēng.
    The school has eighty thousand students.

Origin

Pictograph
六书liùshū
象形xiàngxíng

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.

Grammar

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