今
jīn
#336 most
frequent character
now, the present time, current
Character breakdown
Source: Make Me a Hanzi.
今 is 曰, 'to speak', turned upside down, so it first meant keeping the mouth closed and silent. The sense 'now' was borrowed only for the sound, not from the picture. The old sense later came to be written 吟.
Drawn as: upside-down 曰
Ask DeepSeek
Your word lists
Sign in to add this word to your private lists.