Meaning & readings

thousand

On’yomi セン
Kun’yomi
Nanori かず、ゆき

Origin

This character combines two components to represent a large quantity. The top stroke is a diagonal line, and the bottom is the character for ten. Together they suggest the idea of multiplying or stacking — many tens piled together to reach a much larger number. The simple, elegant form reflects how the character evolved as a shorthand way to write "a thousand" without drawing out a full phrase.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).

3 strokes

Components

  • 丿 radical top
  • radical bottom

Common words

  • 何千 なんぜん many thousands
  • 数千 すうせん thousands; several thousand
  • 千鳥 ちどり plover
  • 千島 ちしま Kuril Islands; Kurile Islands
  • 千里 せんり 1000 ri; (a) long distance
  • 千代 ちよ thousand years; thousand generations
  • 千葉 ちば Chiba (city, prefecture)
  • 千円札 せんえんさつ 1,000 yen bill

Reference

Strokes
3
Kangxi radical
24
Grade
Grade 1 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#195 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 4
Unicode
U+05343