Skip to content

银yín

Character evolution

银

Hover to feel · click to explore

Simplified · Today

Shuowen

Silver. The character combines the metal radical 金 (indicating its metallic nature) with 艮 as the phonetic component, forming a semantic-phonetic compound that identifies it as a precious metal. Silver was historically valued as currency and for crafting valuable objects, which is why it came to represent wealth and money in general. The 金 radical shows its material substance, while 艮 provides the sound, the combination creating a character that has meant silver since ancient times.

Pinyin

yín· HSK 2