二十五六 (èr shí wǔ liù) — twenty-five or twenty-six; approximately twenty-five

Definition

A vague numeral meaning 'around twenty-five or twenty-six' — used for age, dates, or quantities when the exact number is uncertain. Different from 二十五 or 二十六, which give a specific number.

numeral
twenty-five or twenty-sixapproximately twenty-five

Examples

  • 二十五六。
    Tā kàn qǐ lái èr shí wǔ liù suì zuǒ yòu.
    He looks around twenty-five or twenty-six years old.
  • 二十五六。
    Wǒ men shì èr shí wǔ liù hào qù běi jīng de.
    We went to Beijing on the 25th or 26th.
  • 二十五六。
    Zhè cì lái le èr shí wǔ liù gè rén.
    About twenty-five or twenty-six people came this time.

Origin

Characters in this word

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.

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 →

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 →

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

The shape of 六 may come from a simple drawing of a shed, or from an ancient counting mark.

Open 六 →

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