(qiān) - thousand in Mandarin
qiānTraditional: 千
Translation
thousand
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Word origin
The oracle-bone form is 人 (rén, person) with a short stroke across the leg. 人 gives the sound and the stroke marks the number, the same trick that builds 百 (bǎi) out of 白 (bái).
- Origin
- phono-semantic
- Root
- 人 (rén, phonetic) + 一 (one)
Stroke order
千
Examples
。
This computer costs five thousand yuan.
。
Our school has a thousand pupils.
。
Whatever you do, don't forget your keys.
。
This book has sold over a thousand copies.
。
Several thousand people came today.
千 (qiān) is a thousand. Like 百 (bǎi) it needs a number in front: a thousand is 一千 (yìqiān), and two thousand is almost always 两千 (liǎngqiān) rather than 二千 (èrqiān), which sounds stiff at this size. Gaps are filled with 零 (líng) exactly as they are with hundreds, so 1,005 is 一千零五 (yìqiān líng wǔ), while 一千五 (yìqiān wǔ) on its own is 1,500.
The real adjustment is that Chinese stops at 千. The next unit up is 万 (wàn, ten thousand), and big numbers are counted in 万 rather than in thousands. Fifty thousand is 五万 (wǔwàn), not 五十千. English speakers keep reaching for thousands and landing on the wrong power of ten, so when a figure has more than four digits, stop and count in 万.
千万 (qiānwàn) is literally a thousand ten-thousands, ten million. It is also an everyday adverb meaning whatever you do, used in warnings: 千万别迟到 (qiānwàn bié chídào, whatever you do, don't be late). The adverb is far more common in conversation than the number, and it nearly always comes with a command after it.
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Mandarin · Free printables
千: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "千" (thousand): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
This word is taught in chapter 2, lesson 9: 千, 不能, 真的 and 10 more words.