太 | tài

In Mandarin Chinese, 太 (Pinyin: tài 🔊) is used either as an adverb “so”, “too”, “very”, or an adjective meaning “greatest”, “highest”, “noble”, “senior”, “utmost” etc. 太 is extremely common: “is one of the 1000 most commonly used words” in the Collins Chinese Dictionary. There are many compound words starting with 太, such as 太平 (tàipíng) “peace and tranquility”, 太空 (tàikōng) “space”, 太太 (tàitai) “wife”, or 太爷爷 / 太爺爺 (tàiyéye) “great-grandfather”.

By now we’ve got used to the figurative meanings of Chinese numerals (e.g. 万 means “ten thousand” but also “all”, “countless” and so on). Well, in case of 太 the opposite seems to be true as well: in Mainland China, 太 is employed as prefix “tera-” (10¹²), as in 太字节 / 太字節 (tàizìjié) “terabyte”.

Just like now-familiar 犬 “dog”, 太 consists of 大, “big”, modified with a stroke 丶; however in the case of 太 the stroke moved from the presumed “ear” position to somewhere, er, between the “legs”.

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亿 | yì

In Mandarin Chinese, 亿 (Pinyin: yì 🔊) is a word for “hundred million” (i.e. 10⁸) as well as, you may have guessed by now, “many”.

Alternative way of expressing the number 100 000 000 is 万万 / 萬萬 (wànwàn), i.e. 万 (wàn) “ten thousand” squared. However, 万万 is more often used as an adverb meaning “absolutely” or “certainly” (not).

亿 is a simplified form of the traditional hanzi 億. It is a phono-semantic compound of 亻, a radical form of our old friend 人 (“people”) and phonetic 意 (yì), which later got replaced by totally unrelated but similarly-sounding 乙 (yǐ). It looks like even in ancient times in China there was a firm association between “people” and “many” although, curiously, some historical forms of this character lack the radical 亻.

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兆 | zhào

In Mandarin Chinese, 兆 (Pinyin: zhào) is a word for “sign” or “omen”. In Mainland China, it also means “million” (i.e. 10⁶), as in 兆瓦 (zhào wǎ), “megawatt”. However, in Japanese the very kanji 兆 stands for “trillion”, i.e. “million million” (this meaning is now obsolete in Mainland China).

Alternative, and less ambiguous, way of expressing the number 10⁶ is 百万 / 百萬 (bǎiwàn), that is, 百 “hundred” by 万 “ten thousand”. Alternative way of expressing the number 10¹² is 亿万 / 億萬 (yìwàn), i.e. 亿 (10⁸) by 万 (10⁴). In Mainland China, 太 (tài) is used as prefix “tera-” (10¹²).

According to Uncle Hanzi, 兆 originally represented “the cracks in oracle bones caused by fire which were thought to be signs (omens) of the future”.

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〇 | líng

In Mandarin Chinese, 〇 (Pinyin: líng 🔊) is a word for number zero.

In AD 690, Wu Zetian (624—705), the only Empress Regnant in the history of China, adopted a number of new characters, one of which was 〇. Originally, it was meant to replace the unwieldy character 星 “star”. After the Empress’s death, the new characters fell into disuse. In 1247, Qin Jiushao (ca. 1202—1261) found a new job for 〇. It was introduced as the symbol for zero in his work 數書九章 (Shùshū Jiǔzhāng, “Mathematical Treatise in Nine Sections”). Another hanzi with the same meaning, 零, is mainly used for financial purposes.

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万 | wàn

In Mandarin Chinese, 万 (Pinyin: wàn 🔊) is a word for “ten thousand”. It is often used figuratively, in a sense “numerous”, “countless”, “very”, “extremely”, “absolutely”, “all”, “eternity” etc. 万水千山 (wàn shuǐ qiān shān), “ten thousand rivers, a thousand mountains” is a popular idiom for the long journey.

万 is a simplified form of the traditional hanzi 萬 which originally meant “scorpion”. There is a great variety of historical forms of this latter character. However, 万 and 萬 are not similar at all. According to Wiktionary, 万 is

a simplification of the Buddhist symbol 卍 introduced when Buddhism came to China. 卍 was given the same pronunciation as 萬 meaning 萬德 (many virtues); so, 卍 came to be used as a simplified form of 萬. 万 is simply a scribal form (script) of 卍. The meaning ten thousand for 万 is a borrowing.

The modern character 万 does look more like a combination of Latin letters T and J than a left-handed swastika. Incidentally, “T.J.” is a nickname for Tijuana 🔊 — can you hear wàn there?

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千 | qiān

In Mandarin Chinese, 千 (Pinyin: qiān 🔊) is a word for “thousand” as well as “many”.

千 is just the character 十 with an extra stroke on top of it. Many historical forms of this character also look like 十 capped with an extra hook, line, or sinker squiggle.

Another hanzi with the same meaning, 仟, is mainly used for financial purposes. Like the “accounting” forms of 五 and 百, it consists of its own “simple” version preceded by 亻, which is a radical form of 人.

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百 | bǎi

In Mandarin Chinese, 百 (Pinyin: bǎi 🔊; not to be confused with bā, 🔊) is a word for “hundred”. It is often used figuratively, in a sense “numerous”, “countless”, “every”, “all”, “entirely”, “at all”, etc. When they actually mean the number 100, “one hundred”, Chinese say exactly that: 一百 (yī bǎi 🔊).

There is a great variety of historical forms of this character. 百 is a phono-semantic compound where pronunciation of seemingly unrelated word 白 (bái) “white” is combined with meaning of 一. (Recall that, apart from “one”, 一 also means “each”, “every”, “whole” and so on). A good trick to remember this character is to write the number 100 with “boxy” zeros, then rotate it 90° clockwise.

Another hanzi with the same meaning, 佰, is mainly used for accounting purposes.

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十 | shí

In Mandarin Chinese, 十 (Pinyin: shí 🔊) is a word for number “ten”. It also means “complete” or “topmost”, as in 十全十美 (shí quán shí měi), an idiom for “perfect in every way”. So shí is perfect, and if you happen to know a lady who is perfect in every way, that could help you to remember the pronunciation: “She is perfect”.

In contrast to 一 “one”, the symbol for ten was historically represented by a single vertical stroke 丨, which sometimes had a dot or a “swelling” in the middle. According to Ponte Ryūrui, the second stroke in the modern character 十 is just “an aesthetically altered fat dot”. The similarity between the Roman numeral Ⅹ and 十 makes this latter an easy character to remember.

There are several Chinese hand signs for “ten”. For example, the crossed index and middle fingers on one hand, or the index fingers of both hands crossed making the 十.

There is another hanzi with the same meaning, 拾, which is mainly used for accounting purposes.

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九 | jiǔ

In Mandarin Chinese, 九 (Pinyin: jiǔ 🔊) stands for “nine”. It is considered a lucky number, maybe because it is pronounced exactly like 久 (jiǔ) which means “long lasting”. The expression 長長久久 / 长长久久 (cháng cháng jiǔ jiǔ) “forever and ever” is often used in Chinese greetings. Historically, the number nine it was associated with the Emperor of China.

According to Wiktionary, 九 represents a stylised hand, while Uncle Hanzi says it is “a hand with a hook”. Ponte Ryūrui offers a much more interesting explanation: “a pictograph of a dragon, or more precisely a dragon-serpent”. So what? Well, dragons, he continues, “were used by the emperors of China as symbols emphasising their power”. So here we have this dragon/nine/imperial connection.

The Chinese hand sign for “nine” is the index finger making a hook with the other fingers closed:

There is another hanzi with the same meaning, 玖, which is mainly used for financial purposes. It is composed of the radical 𤣩 and now-familiar 久.

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八 | bā

In Mandarin Chinese, 八 (Pinyin: bā 🔊) is a word for “eight”. It is considered a lucky number, because its pronunciation is similar to that of 發 / 发 (fā), which means “to make a fortune”. You may have heard or seen this latter word in the traditional New Year greeting, 恭喜發財 / 恭喜发财 (gōngxǐ fācái), literally “Congratulations, (may you) become wealthy”.

The original meaning of 八 was “to divide”. I don’t think the ancient Chinese knew much about cell division but somehow most historical forms of this character remind me of a pair of chromosomes.

The Chinese hand sign for “eight” is a hand with the thumb and index finger at a right angle and the other fingers closed:

There is another hanzi with the same meaning, 捌, which is mainly used for financial purposes.

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七 | qī

In Mandarin Chinese, 七 (Pinyin: qī 🔊) means “seven”. It is considered a lucky number, maybe because it is pronounced similarly to 气 (qì), “life essence”.

Many historical forms of this character looked like 十, which currently represents “ten”. If you got accustomed to write your 7 with a line through the middle, then you’ll have no problem remembering 七: it’s just 7 upside down.

The Chinese hand sign for “seven” is a hand with the fingertips of the thumb and first two fingers touching:

There is another hanzi with the same meaning, 柒, which is mainly used for financial purposes. It is composed of the very same 七 as well as of now-familiar 氵, a radical form of 水 (shuǐ), and 木 (mù).

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六 | liù

In Mandarin Chinese, 六 (Pinyin: liù 🔊) means “six”. Six is considered a lucky number. There is a Chinese saying, 六六大顺 (liù liù dà shùn), which means “everything is going smoothly”.

If to indicate “four” we needed six strokes, as in 四, here we have four strokes to indicate “six”. Strange, isn’t it? According to Wiktionary, 六 is a picture of a shed or a cabin, and is used because the word for shed 庐 (lù) sounds similar to liù. Many historical forms of this character indeed look like a shed or a hut, but the modern 六 reminds me more of a star jump exercise.

The Chinese hand sign for “six” is a hand with the thumb and pinky extended and other fingers closed:

There are other hanzi with the same meaning, 陸 (traditional) and 陆 (simplified), mainly used for financial purposes.

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五 | wǔ

In Mandarin Chinese, 五 (Pinyin: wǔ 🔊) means “five”.

Many historical forms of this character look more like an hourglass (𠄡) than the modern 五. Ponte Ryūrui says that its shape follows that of “a wooden receptacle equipped with two lids”, and could even be “an allegory of Heavens and Earth”. Wiktionary suggests that

五 was originally written as five horizontal lines, similar to 一, 二, 三, and the obsolete 亖 (“four”), but in common writing the lines would blend together. Thus, two lines were turned vertical and the right one was shortened, to form one stroke with the middle horizontal line.

Whether or not this was the case, that’s how you can (remember how to) write 五: start with 三 and then add 二 rotated 90° (which could explain why two vertical strokes are unequal in length). In reality, however, the stroke order in 五 is quite different:

The Chinese hand sign for “five” is an open hand.

There is another hanzi with the same meaning, 伍, mainly used for financial purposes. This time it is easy to see 五 there.

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四 | sì

In Mandarin Chinese, 四 (Pinyin: sì 🔊) means “four”. This number is considered unlucky because its pronuciation is similar to that of 死 (sǐ 🔊) “death”.

You’d think that, following the logic of the first three numerals (一, 二, 三), the symbol for “four” should be written as 亖. And you’d be absolutely right. However, nowadays this form of “four” is considered archaic. The historical forms of the character give us no clue why the (easy) four strokes got replaced by the somewhat more complicated symbol, which looks like a square window with two curtains. Unless it was invented by an elementary math teacher who wanted his pupils to remember that two (curtains) squared is four.

Naturally, the Chinese hand sign for “four” is four extended fingers.

There is another hanzi with the same meaning, 肆, which is mainly used for financial purposes. You’d never guess.

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三 | sān

In Mandarin Chinese, 三 (Pinyin: sān 🔊) means “three” or “third”.

To write the character 三, start with 二, that is, a shorter upper stroke and a longer lower stroke, then sandwich an even shorter stroke between them. Speaking of sandwiches: 三 really looks like one, while 三明治 (sānmíngzhì 🔊) is just a phonetic borrowing of English word “sandwich”. Could that help to remember the pronunciation of 三?

As one could expect, the Chinese hand sign for “three” is three extended fingers.

There are several other hanzi with the same meaning, such as 參 and 叁, mainly used for financial purposes. You can easily discern the three strokes there.

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二 | èr

In Mandarin Chinese, 二 (Pinyin: èr 🔊) means “two” or “second”. Two is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture: “good things come in pairs”.

二 is as (or even twice as) straightforward as 一. Note that the upper stroke is shorter than the lower. Rather predictably, the Chinese hand sign for “two” is two extended fingers (index and middle).

There are other hanzi with the same meaning: 貳 (traditional) and 贰 (simplified), mainly used for financial purposes. The two horizontal strokes are still there, albeit well hidden.

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一 | yī

In Mandarin Chinese, 一 (Pinyin: yī 🔊) means “one”. Also, a bunch of derived meanings such as “each”, “every”, “single”, “whole” and so on.

This is probably the easiest Chinese character to write (and remember). One theory, mentioned by Eve Kushner in one of her Radical Notes, says that in 一 “the stroke depicts a ‘single extended finger’”. In any case, the Chinese hand sign for “one” is exactly that: a single extended finger. The index finger, to be precise.

Note, however, that there are other hanzi with the same meaning: 壱, more common in Japan, and 壹, more common in China (also pronounced yī). Ponte Ryuurui writes that these complex characters are “used in legal documents, for the purpose of avoiding mistakes with numbers, and also for preventing document falsifications”.

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