金

Jin1
#260 most
frequent character
surname Jin, surname Kim (Korean)

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

金 began as a picture of an axe and metal plates, so its first meaning was 'copper.' From there it widened to 'metals,' 'gold,' 'money,' and 'precious.' The top part was once 今, which supplied the sound; on the left it is written 钅.

Drawn as: axe; metal plates

金 as a component in other characters

meaning9 characters
sound2 characters
picture4 characters

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Same Characters, Different Readings

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