甲 (jiǎ): first of the ten Heavenly Stems 十天干, (used for an unspecified person or thing), first (in a list, as a party to a contract etc)
甲 (jiǎ) is a Chinese character meaning “first of the ten heavenly stems 十天干.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 冂 (structural). It ranks #1105 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Definitions
- first of the ten Heavenly Stems 十天干
- (used for an unspecified person or thing)
- first (in a list, as a party to a contract etc)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 甲 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 指甲noun | zhǐ jia | fingernail |
| 甲板noun | jiǎ bǎn | deck (of a ship or boat) |
| 甲壳noun | jiǎ qiào | carapace |
| 盔甲noun | kuī jiǎ | armor |
| 装甲noun | zhuāng jiǎ | vehicle armor |
| 指甲油 | zhǐ jia yóu | nail polish |
| 装甲车 | zhuāng jiǎ chē | armored car |
| 甲子noun | jiǎ zǐ | first year of the sixty-year cycle (where each year is numbered with one of the 10 heavenly stems 天干 and ... |
| 甲虫noun | jiǎ chóng | beetle |
| 甲烷noun | jiǎ wán | methane CH4 |
| 甲状腺noun | jiǎ zhuàng xiàn | (anatomy) thyroid gland |
| 马甲noun | mǎ jiǎ | corset |
| 甲基noun | jiǎ jī | methyl group (chemistry) |
| 趾甲noun | zhǐ jiǎ | toenail |
| 铠甲noun | kǎi jiǎ | armor |
甲 appears in 100 compound words: 47 as the first character, 37 as the last, and 16 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 甲 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (15)
to put down weapon and let soldiers rest (idiom); to relax from fighting
the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895, conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea)
Showing 12 of 15 idioms containing 甲.
Example Sentences
他是甲级运动员，曾多次获得冠军。
Tā shì jiǎ jí yùndòngyuán, céng duō cì huòdé guànjūn.
He is a Class A athlete and has won championships many times.
向星雲大師致敬!佛光山開山一甲子 中華郵政發行紀念郵票
xiàng xīng 雲 dà 師 zhì jìng ! fó guāng shān 開 shān yī jiǎ zǐ zhōng 華 郵 zhèng 發 háng 紀 niàn 郵 piào
Salute to Venerable Master Hsing Yun! Foguangshan Marks Its 60th Anniversary China Post Issues Commemorative Stamp
...年花況最佳!清境農場櫻花8成綻放 台14甲變全臺最美櫻花公路
. . . nián huā 況 zuì jiā ! qīng jìng 農 場 櫻 huā chéng 綻 fàng tái jiǎ 變 quán 臺 zuì měi 櫻 huā gōng lù
... The best flower conditions in the new year! 80% of the cherry blossoms at Cingjing Farm bloom, and Taiwan 14A has become the most beautiful cherry blossom road in Taiwan
...路線圖明確,利好微軟(MSFT.US)及甲骨文(ORCL.US)
. . . lù 線 圖 míng 確 , lì hǎo wēi 軟 . jí jiǎ gǔ wén .
... The roadmap is clear, which is good for Microsoft (MSFT. US) and Oracle (ORCL. US)
足球/加盟中甲定南贛聯 台灣隊長陳柏良盼引領年輕選手持...
zú qiú jiā méng zhōng jiǎ dìng nán 贛 聯 tái 灣 隊 長 陳 bǎi liáng pàn yǐn 領 nián 輕 選 shǒu chí . . .
Football/Joining the Chinese League of Dingnan Jiangxi Taiwan captain Chen Bailiang hopes to lead young players to hold...
甲骨文股价因Stargate项目担忧而下跌
jiǎ gǔ wén gǔ jià yīn xiàng mù dān yōu ér xià diē
Oracle stock price falls amid concerns over Stargate project
〈走進中國〉春節商機!電話接不完 美甲師加班到凌晨三點
zǒu 進 zhōng 國 chūn 節 shāng 機 ! 電 話 jiē bù wán měi jiǎ 師 jiā bān dào líng chén sān 點
(Going to China) Spring Festival Business Opportunities! Nail technician works till 3am.
突然火了!今年春节流行做“黄金甲”,有人花了4万元..
tū rán huǒ le ! jīn nián chūn jié liú háng zuò huáng jīn jiǎ , yǒu rén huā le mò yuán . .
Suddenly it's on fire! This year's Spring Festival is popular to do "golden armor", some people spent 40,000 yuan...
甲之蜜糖，乙之砒霜。
Jiǎ zhī mì táng, yǐ zhī pīshuāng.
One man's meat is another man's poison.
我一面咬着指甲一面担心着你。
Wǒ yīmiàn yǎo zhe zhǐjia yīmiàn dānxīn zhe nǐ.
I was biting my nails, worrying about you.
Character Family
田 Radical Family — Characters sharing the field radical
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 甲 (jiǎ) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 甲 have?
What is the radical of 甲?
What are the components of 甲?
What are common words containing 甲?
What characters sound the same as 甲 (jiǎ)?
Is 甲 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 甲 with real-time feedback
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