十六七 (shí liù qī) — sixteen or seventeen; about sixteen to seventeen

Definition

Approximate number meaning 'sixteen or seventeen' — used to give a rough figure, like 'around 16–17'. It is a numeral, not a date: do not read it as 'the 16th of July' (that would be 十六号).

numeral
sixteen or seventeenabout sixteen to seventeen

Examples

  • 十六七。
    Tā kàn qǐ lái dà yuē shí liù qī suì.
    He looks about sixteen or seventeen years old.
  • 十六七。
    Jiào shì lǐ yǒu shí liù qī gè xué shēng.
    There are about sixteen or seventeen students in the classroom.
  • 十六七。
    Wǒ zài nà lǐ dài le shí liù qī tiān.
    I stayed there for about sixteen or seventeen days.

Origin

Characters in this word

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.

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

The shape of 七 comes from two crossing lines: the top line runs left to right, and the next line goes down and across.

Open 七 →

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