TongTong
Sign in

四十 (sì shí) — forty

Definition

numeral
forty

Examples

  • 四十。
    Tā yǐ jīng sì shí suì le.
    He is already 40 years old.
  • 。
    Zhè ge chéng shì yǒu sì shí wàn rén.
    This city has 400,000 people.
  • 。
    Gōng zuò sì shí fēn zhōng hòu xiū xi yí xià.
    Take a break after working 40 minutes.

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.

四sìfour
十shíten

四 four + 十 ten: four tens make forty.

Characters in this word

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

The form 四 was drawn as a nose breathing out. It later came to be used for the word four.

Open 四 →

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 →
Appears in
Numbers & Counting

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.