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九千 (jiǔ qiān) — nine thousand

Definition

numeral
nine thousand

Examples

  • 九千。
    Zhè ge chéng shì de jū mín yuē yǒu jiǔ qiān rén.
    The population of this city is about nine thousand people.
  • 九千。
    Tā měi gè yuè gōng zī bú dào jiǔ qiān kuài.
    His monthly salary is less than nine thousand yuan.
  • 九千。
    Cóng běi jīng dào shàng hǎi de jù lí dà yuē shì jiǔ qiān gōng lǐ.
    The distance from Beijing to Shanghai is approximately nine thousand kilometers.

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.

九jiǔnine
千qiānthousand

“九” gives the number and “千” gives the unit, making nine thousand.

Characters in this word

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

The shape comes from a stylized hand bent at the wrist, with the lower-right hook showing the bend. Later, it was taken to show a tightened fist bumping up to ten, giving the number nine.

Open 九 →

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 →
Appears in
Numbers & Counting

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