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五十六 (wǔ shí liù) — fifty-six

Definition

numeral
fifty-six

Examples

  • 五十六。
    Wǒ nǎi nai jīn nián wǔ shí liù suì le.
    My grandmother is fifty-six years old this year.
  • 五十六。
    Wǒ men bān yǒu wǔ shí liù gè xué shēng.
    Our class has fifty-six students.
  • 五十六。
    Zhè bǎ yǐ zi mài wǔ shí liù kuài qián.
    This chair is sold for fifty-six yuan.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

五十fifty
五wǔfive十shíten
偏正Modifier + head
六liùsix

五十 gives five tens, and 六 adds six, together making fifty-six.

Characters in this word

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 →

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 →
Appears in
Numbers & Counting

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