八十六 (bā shí liù) — eighty-six; 86

Definition

numeral
eighty-six86

Examples

  • 八十六。
    Tā jīn nián bā shí liù suì le.
    He is eighty-six years old this year.
  • 八十六。
    Zhè běn shū yǒu bā shí liù yè.
    This book has eighty-six pages.
  • 八十六。
    Wǒ men bān yǒu bā shí liù gè xué shēng.
    Our class has eighty-six students.

Origin

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 →

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 →

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