两百五十 (liǎng bǎi wǔ shí) — 250, two hundred fifty

Definition

Two hundred fifty (250). Read as 两百五十 or 两百五 — both are common; 两百五 in spoken Chinese is also slang for 'a fool', but in neutral numeric contexts both readings mean 250.

numeral
250two hundred fifty

Examples

  • 两百五十。
    Zhè ge fáng jiān yǒu liǎng bǎi wǔ shí píng fāng mǐ.
    This room is 250 square meters.
  • 两百五十。
    Tā huā le liǎng bǎi wǔ shí kuài qián mǎi le yì zhāng piào.
    He spent 250 yuan to buy a ticket.
  • 两百五十。
    Wǒ men bān yǒu liǎng bǎi wǔ shí gè xué shēng.
    Our class has 250 students.

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.

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 →

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

The early shape 十 was mostly a single vertical stroke, sometimes with a dot, and later gained a horizontal stroke to form a cross. For the number ten, it marked the next digit above one.

Open 十 →

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