千 (qiān) — thousand
HSK 1 | number | one thousand; used in compound numbers and pricing
千 (qiān)
The word for one thousand; it behaves just like 百, requiring 零 for internal gaps (一千零五 = 1,005). In prices and everyday speech, 千 is extremely common since many goods cost in the hundreds or thousands of yuan.
Meanings
- [number] Thousand, one thousand.
- [adjective] Innumerable, vast (in idioms: 千万, ten million; also "by all means / absolutely").
Example Sentences
这台电脑要三千块钱。 Zhè tái diànnǎo yào sān qiān kuài qián. This computer costs three thousand yuan.
这个城市有两千年的历史。 Zhège chéngshì yǒu liǎng qiān nián de lìshǐ. This city has two thousand years of history.
一千零一夜是一本有名的书。 Yī qiān líng yī yè shì yī běn yǒumíng de shū. One Thousand and One Nights is a famous book.
千万不要迟到！ Qiānwàn bú yào chídào! Whatever you do, do not be late!
Collocations
| Collocation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 一千 (yī qiān) | one thousand |
| 两千 (liǎng qiān) | two thousand |
| 几千 (jǐ qiān) | several thousand |
| 千万 (qiānwàn) | ten million; by all means |
| 上千 (shàng qiān) | over a thousand |
| 千年 (qiān nián) | a thousand years, millennium |
Memory Hook
千 looks like 人 (person) with an extra horizontal stroke through the middle. Imagine a crowd of a thousand people merging into one tall figure — that is 千.