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八万 (bā wàn) — eighty thousand

Definition

Literal reading of the number 80,000. Read as bā wàn ('eight ten-thousands'), not bā wàn nián or other homophones.

numeral
eighty thousand

Examples

  • 八万。
    Zhè ge chéng shì dà yuē yǒu bā wàn rén kǒu.
    This city has about eighty thousand people.
  • 八万。
    Tā mǎi fáng zi huā le bā wàn kuài qián.
    He spent eighty thousand yuan on a house.
  • 八万。
    Xiāng dāng yú bā wàn měi yuán.
    That's equivalent to eighty thousand US dollars.

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.

八bāeight
万wànten thousand

八 gives the number eight, and 万 gives the unit ten thousand.

Characters in this word

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

八 shows two bent lines, indicating the original meaning 'to divide'; it was later used for 'eight' because the words sounded alike.

Open 八 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 萬; 万 is its simplified writing.

For 万, the form 萬 was originally a picture of a scorpion, later borrowed for its sound to write 'ten thousand'; the scorpion picture is unrelated to that number.

Open 万 →
Appears in
Numbers & Counting

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