Tool · Culture
Chinese numbers
数字 shùzì · count, read and write numbers
Type any number to see it in Chinese characters, pinyin and the capital form used on cheques, or paste Chinese numerals to read them. With 1 to 10, the hand signs and the lucky numbers.
Convert a number
- Number
- Pinyin
- Capital form 大写
- Note
The answer
Chinese numbers use ten digits, 零 0 to 九 9, and the units 十 ten, 百 hundred, 千 thousand, 万 ten thousand and 亿 hundred million. Big numbers are grouped in fours, not threes: 100,000 is 十万, “ten ten-thousands”. Banks and contracts use a harder-to-alter “capital” form, such as 壹 for 1.
Chinese numbers 0 to 10, with hand signs
- 0零língCapital 零A closed fist, or the “O” of thumb and fingers.
- 1一yīCapital 壹Index finger up.
- 2二èrCapital 贰Index and middle fingers up.
- 3三sānCapital 叁Middle, ring and little fingers up (thumb holds the index), or the first three fingers.
- 4四sìCapital 肆Four fingers up, thumb folded in.
- 5五wǔCapital 伍Open hand.
- 6六liùCapital 陆Thumb and little finger out, other fingers folded.
- 7七qīCapital 柒Fingertips of thumb, index and middle finger pinched together.
- 8八bāCapital 捌Thumb and index finger out, like an “L”.
- 9九jiǔCapital 玖Index finger bent into a hook.
- 10十shíCapital 拾Index fingers of both hands crossed, or a closed fist.
Big numbers: hundreds to hundreds of millions
Chinese counts in groups of four digits. After 万 (10,000) the next new word is 亿 (100,000,000).
| Number | Chinese | Pinyin | Capital |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 百 | bǎi | 佰 |
| 1,000 | 千 | qiān | 仟 |
| 10,000 | 万 | wàn | 万 |
| 100,000,000 | 亿 | yì | 亿 |
| 11 | |||
| 20 | |||
| 105 | |||
| 1,010 | |||
| 2,026 | |||
| 10,000 | |||
| 15,000 | |||
| 100,000 | |||
| 1,000,000 | |||
| 120,000,000 |
How Chinese numbers work
Numbers are built the way they are said: 23 is 二十三, “two ten three”. A zero inside a number is spoken once, however many zeros there are, so 1,005 is 一千零五. From 10 to 19 the leading 一 is usually dropped: 15 is 十五.
Large numbers are grouped by 万 (10,000) and 亿 (100,000,000) rather than by thousands, which is why 1 million is 一百万 and 1 billion is 十亿. China’s population of about 1.4 billion is “十四亿”.
For money, 元 (yuán, also called 块 kuài in speech) is the unit, 角 is a tenth and 分 a hundredth. The capital form 大写 is required on cheques and many invoices so that amounts cannot be altered.
Questions readers ask
How do you count to 10 in Chinese?
yī 一, èr 二, sān 三, sì 四, wǔ 五, liù 六, qī 七, bā 八, jiǔ 九, shí 十. Eleven is 十一 (ten-one), twenty is 二十 (two-ten), and twenty-one is 二十一.
Why is 10,000 a separate word in Chinese?
Chinese groups digits in fours. 万 (wàn) is 10,000 and 亿 (yì) is 100,000,000, so one million is 一百万 (“one hundred ten-thousands”) and one billion is 十亿 (“ten hundred-millions”).
When do you say 两 (liǎng) instead of 二 (èr)?
Both mean two. 二 is used for counting, in numbers like 十二 and in phone numbers; 两 is used before measure words (两个人, two people) and is common before 百, 千, 万 and 亿 (两千, two thousand).
Why is 1 read as “yāo” in phone numbers?
In phone numbers, room numbers and bus routes, 1 is often read as yāo instead of yī so it is not confused with 七 qī (seven). 110, the police number, is “yāo yāo líng”.
What are the lucky and unlucky numbers in China?
8 (bā) sounds like 发 (fā, to prosper) and is the favourite. 6 (liù) suggests things going smoothly, and 9 (jiǔ) sounds like 久, long-lasting. 4 (sì) sounds like 死 (sǐ, death), so some buildings skip 4th floors and 4 is avoided in phone and car numbers.
What are “capital” Chinese numbers (大写) for?
On cheques, invoices and contracts, amounts are written in the 大写 form, 壹 贰 叁 肆 伍 陆 柒 捌 玖 拾, because the simple strokes of 一 二 三 are easy to change. The converter writes amounts in this form, such as 壹仟贰佰叁拾肆元伍角陆分 for ¥1,234.56.
What do the Chinese number hand signs mean?
People count 1 to 10 on one hand. 6 is thumb and little finger out, 7 is three fingertips pinched together, 8 is thumb and index finger like an “L”, 9 is a hooked index finger and 10 is crossed index fingers or a fist. They are handy in noisy markets; the table on this page describes each one.
Related tools
Sources
- Wikipedia, Chinese numerals (characters, financial numerals, large numbers) · accessed 28 Oct 2026
- Wikipedia, Chinese number gestures · accessed 28 Oct 2026
- Wikipedia, Numbers in Chinese culture (lucky and unlucky numbers) · accessed 28 Oct 2026
Update log. 28 October 2026 — published. Next review due 26 January 2027. Suggest a correction
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