千

qiān
HSK 2
#599 most
frequent character
thousand
noun

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

千 uses 亻 rén, a sound part, plus 一, a mark that separates it from 人. Long ago “1000” sounded close to “person”, so the person character was borrowed for the sound and a mark was added. It later grew to mean a great amount or numerous. The sound link is not clear in modern Mandarin.

千 as a component in other characters

sound7 characters
迁歼纤忏阡仟扦
picture3 characters
芊钎臿
empty2 characters
舌乖

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Example Sentences

我有一千块钱。
wǒyǒu yīqiānkuài qián 。
I have one thousand yuan.
那座山高千米。
nà zuò shāngāo qiānmǐ 。
That mountain is a thousand meters high.
他每天跑一千米。
tā měitiān pǎo yī qiānmǐ 。
He runs a thousand meters every day.

Grammar Points

HSK 1
Structure of numbers
HSK 2
Using "ji" to mean "several"
HSK 3
Big numbers in Chinese
HSK 4
Expressing "to make certain" with "qianwan"

Words with similar meanings

亘古gèngǔ
ancient (a thousand yesterdays)
More poetic term often used in literature to describe a long time in the past.

Homophones

HSK 5
牵qiān
to pull (an animal on a tether)
签qiān
signature
迁qiān
to move
铅qiān
lead

Words Starting With 千

千万qiān wàn
ten million; countless; many; one must by all means
千方百计qiān fāng bǎi jì
"lit. thousand ways, a hundred plans (idiom); by every possible means"

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Public Lists with 千

Measure Words
Commonly used measure words (个, 张, 本, etc.) across various contexts.
Numbers & Counting
Numerals, counting words, and measure words frequently used with numbers.
HSK 2
All words for the HSK 2 test