Chinese character for thousand: 千 (qiān)
The Chinese character for thousand is 千 (qiān). It means one thousand and also 'very many', as in 千万 (qiānwàn, ten million, or 'by all means'). It appears in idioms like 千里之行 (a journey of a thousand miles).
How 千 is built
千 is explained as a person 人 with a horizontal stroke across the leg: in ancient writing, a mark on the sign for person showed the number one thousand, and the sound qiān was close to 人 (rén) in old Chinese. In the modern form you see a slanting stroke on top of 十 (ten). As a memory aid, ten with an extra stroke above makes a much larger number. It is the same in both scripts.
千 qiān · thousand
- 丿 — falling stroke
- 十 — ten
- 一 — horizontal stroke
- 丨 — vertical stroke
How 千 is used
Before you use it as a tattoo or design: 千 is identical in both scripts; the short top stroke slants down to the left, which a good font will show.
Questions
What is the Chinese character for thousand?
千 (qiān) means “thousand”.
How do you pronounce 千?
千 is pronounced qiān.