千 — how to write the kanji for “thousand”

千 (“thousand”) is a JLPT N5 kanji taught in first grade in Japan. In newspapers it is the 195th most used kanji. It is also where katakana チ came from. Its parts sit stacked: 丿 (“slash”), stroke 1; 十 (“ten”, its radical), strokes 2–3, each finished before the next. On its own it is the word sen, “thousand; 1,000”. Read sen, it forms 三千 (“3000”), 四千 (“four thousand”) and 千里 (“1000 ri”); the native reading chi gives 千代 (“thousand years”) and 千島 (“Kuril Islands”). Chinese reads it qiān, “thousand”, at HSK 1.

Strokes

3

JLPT

N5

Radical

十 (“ten”)

On

セン

Kun

ち