斤 (jīn) is a Chinese character meaning “jin, a Chinese unit of weight now standardized at 500 grams”. It is written from ㇒ (left-falling stroke) and ㇒ (left-falling stroke) and ㇐ (horizontal stroke) and ㇑ (vertical stroke), and takes 4 strokes.
Build the character for “catty (500 g)”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
㇒ + ㇒ + ㇐ + ㇑
Overlapping structure
- ㇒ left-falling stroke unknown
- ㇒ left-falling stroke unknown
- ㇐ horizontal stroke unknown
- ㇑ vertical stroke unknown
Structure from: Unicode U+65A4 and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (four strokes: 撇 / 撇 / 横 / 竖)
Memory aid
A short left-falling stroke (㇒) tips in at the top, then a long one (㇒) sweeps all the way down the left like a handle. Across them lies a horizontal (㇐) — the beam of a scale — and a vertical (㇑) hangs straight down from it, the weight being measured.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
4 strokes
In real words
- 公斤gōng jīnkilogram斤 = jīn
- 斤两jīn liǎngweight; (figuratively) how much something counts斤 = jīn
- 掂斤播两diān jīn bō liǎngto haggle over every ounce; to be petty and calculating斤 = jīn
Go deeper
All readings
catty (unit of weight)
jin, a Chinese unit of weight now standardized at 500 grams (half a kilogram)
重量单位，一斤等于五百克，两斤是一公斤。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 公斤gōng jīnkilogram斤 = jīn
- 斤两jīn liǎngweight; (figuratively) how much something counts斤 = jīn
- 掂斤播两diān jīn bō liǎngto haggle over every ounce; to be petty and calculating斤 = jīn
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 斤 mean?
斤 (jīn) means jin, a Chinese unit of weight now standardized at 500 grams (half a kilogram).
How do you pronounce 斤?
It is pronounced jīn.
What parts is 斤 made of?
㇒ (left-falling stroke) and ㇒ (left-falling stroke) and ㇐ (horizontal stroke) and ㇑ (vertical stroke). The recorded source is: Unicode U+65A4 and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (four strokes: 撇 / 撇 / 横 / 竖). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 斤 have?
4. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 斤?
斤. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 斤?
Common ones are 公斤 and 斤两. The reading of 斤 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.