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

今 as a component in other characters

sound14 characters
念含琴贪吟岑矜黔芩钤衾妗衿侌
picture1 character
吟

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Homophones

斤jīn
a unit of weight (=1/2 kilogram)
金jīn
gold
筋jīn
tendon
禁jīn
to endure
津jīn
saliva, sweat, a ferry crossing

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