千 (qiān) — thousand
Definition
千 is 'thousand' (1,000). Combined with the larger unit 万 ('ten thousand'), numbers form as 万千 = 10,000, not 千 alone.
numeral
thousand
Easily confused
- 干gànlook-aliketo do, to work, to manage (a task)
- 签qiānsound-aliketo sign (one's name on a document)
- 十shílook-aliketen
- 签qiānsound-aliketo sign (one's name); to write brief comments on a document
- 于yúlook-alike(preposition) at, in, on (used in formal/literary contexts for time or place)
- 牵qiānsound-aliketo pull, to lead (an animal on a tether)
Examples
- 。Wǒ yǒu yì qiān kuài qián.I have one thousand yuan.
- 。Tā mǎi le yì qiān gè píng guǒ.He bought one thousand apples.
- 。Xué xiào yǒu yì qiān gè xué shēng.The school has one thousand students.
Origin
Sound + meaning六书liùshū
形声xíngshēngMost characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.
千 pairs 人, whose sound was similar, with 一, a number stroke; the extra line was explained as extension, and a thousand is a number reached by extending counting.
Appears in
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