四千五 (sì qiān wǔ) — four thousand five hundred (colloquial contraction of 四千五百)

Definition

A spoken, abbreviated form of 四千五百 ('4,500') — the 百 is dropped, as in 四百五 for 450 or 一千五 for 1,500. Most natural in casual speech and writing about prices or quantities; the full form is more formal.

numeral
four thousand five hundred (colloquial contraction of 四千五百)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 四千五。
    Zhè tái diàn nǎo zhǐ yào sì qiān wǔ yuán.
    This computer only costs 4,500 yuan.
  • 四千五。
    Jīn nián wǒ men zhāo shōu le sì qiān wǔ míng xué shēng.
    This year we enrolled 4,500 students.
  • 四千五。
    Tā měi gè yuè gōng zī shì sì qiān wǔ kuài zuǒ yòu.
    His monthly salary is around 4,500 kuai.

Origin

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 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
一一yīone, signifying a number
Sound part声符shēngfú
人
人rén千qiān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

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.

Open 千 →

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

An older form had a crossed mark between a top bar and a bottom bar. The modern 五 keeps those bars, while the original idea is uncertain.

Open 五 →

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