(qiān) - to sign, to autograph in Mandarin
qiānTraditional: 籤
Translation
to sign, to autograph
Word origin
A phono-semantic character combining 竹 (zhú, bamboo) with 佥 (qiān) as the phonetic element. It first named a bamboo slip or label, and the sense of marking one's name on something followed.
- Origin
- phono-semantic compound
- Root
- 竹 (zhú, bamboo) + 佥 (qiān, phonetic)
Stroke order
签
Examples
。
Please sign your name here.
。
He signed the contract yesterday.
。
I have not signed yet.
。
The author signed a book for me.
。
This document needs two people to sign it.
签 (qiān) is to sign your name: on a contract, a delivery, a form, a fan's copy of your book. In practice it almost always appears with an object, most often 签名 or 签字, and those two are effectively fixed expressions rather than free verb-object pairs.
签名 leans towards the name itself and covers autographs, while 签字 leans towards the formal act on a document. Either way the pattern is 在这里签名, sign here. Verbs stack on top as usual: 签好了 signed and done, 签不了 cannot sign.
Two traps. First, 签 as a noun is a different animal: a label, a tag or the bamboo lot you draw in a temple, which is where 抽签 to draw lots comes from. Second, the traditional form varies by sense, 簽 for the verb and 籤 for the lot, so a traditional text will not always look the way the simplified 签 leads you to expect.
Where this fits
Add to review queue
Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.
Go to my review queueMandarin · Free printables
签: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "签" (to sign, to autograph): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
Free for members
The printable worksheets, infographics and PDFs are free with an account. Start a free week and download as many as you like.
Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 56.