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两千五 (liǎng qiān wǔ) — 2500; two thousand five hundred

Definition

Colloquial spoken form of 2500; 千 sounds like 'qian' (money), so it's common in casual speech and prices. In writing, use 二千五百 or 二五零零 for clarity.

numeral
2500two thousand five hundred

Examples

  • 两千五。
    Wǒ huā le liǎng qiān wǔ kuài qián mǎi zhè běn shū.
    I spent 2500 yuan to buy this book.
  • 两千五。
    Jīn nián xīn shēng rén shù shì liǎng qiān wǔ.
    The number of new students this year is 2500.
  • 两千五。
    Cóng běi jīng dào guǎng zhōu de jù lí dà yuē shì liǎng qiān wǔ gōng lǐ.
    The distance from Beijing to Guangzhou is about 2500 kilometers.

Origin

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 兩; 两 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 兩 is described as combining 一 and 㒳. The simplified 两 is a later abbreviation.

Open 两 →

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.

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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