斤 (jīn): catty, (PRC) weight equal to 500 g, (Tw) weight equal to 600 g

斤 (jīn) is a Chinese character meaning “catty.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 厂 (structural) and 下 (structural). It ranks #1847 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. catty
  2. (PRC) weight equal to 500 g
  3. (Tw) weight equal to 600 g

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4

Practice writing 斤 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 斤

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
公斤measuregōng jīnkilogram (kg)3

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
斤斤计较phrasejīn jīn jì jiàoto haggle over every ounce
千斤顶nounqiān jīn dǐngjack (mechanical lifting device)
半斤八两phrasebàn jīn bā liǎngnot much to choose between the two
四两拨千斤phrasesì liǎng bō qiān jīn(lit.) four ounces can move a thousand catties (idiom)
斤两nounjīn liǎngweight
斤斗jīn dǒuvariant of 筋斗
缺斤少两phrasequē jīn shǎo liǎngto give short weight
争斤论两zhēng jīn lùn liǎngto haggle over every ounce (idiom)
短斤缺两duǎn jīn quē liǎngto give short weight
缺斤短两phrasequē jīn duǎn liǎngto give short weight
齿条千斤顶chǐ tiáo qiān jīn dǐngrack and pinion jack
液压千斤顶yè yā qiān jīn dǐnghydraulic jack
市斤measureshì jīnChinese unit of weight equal to 0.5 kg
台斤nountái jīnTaiwan catty (weight equal to 0.6 kg)
斤斤较量phrasejīn jīn jiào liàngsee 斤斤計較|斤斤计较
18
Total compounds
22
As first character
28
As last character
50
As middle character

斤 appears in 18 compound words: 22 as the first character, 28 as the last, and 50 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 斤 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

公gōng
0.55289,569 co-occurrences
级jí
0.52813,838 co-occurrences
奚xī
0.456370 co-occurrences
挺tǐng
0.401546 co-occurrences
磅bàng
0.395424 co-occurrences
铜tóng
0.375698 co-occurrences
炸zhà
0.3641,062 co-occurrences
牌pái
0.3572,100 co-occurrences
雌cí
0.352372 co-occurrences
瘦shòu
0.32543 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

半斤八两bànjīnbāliǎngHSK 3+

six of one, half a dozen of the other; not much to choose between the two

phrase
短斤缺两duǎn jīn quē liǎngHSK 4+

to give short weight

phrase
斤斤计较jīnjīnjìjiàoHSK 4+

to fuss over minor matters; to split hairs

phrase
斤斤较量jīnjīn jiàoliàngHSK 4+

to dispute over minor matters

phrase
缺斤短两quējīnduǎnliǎngHSK 4+

to give short weight

phrase
缺斤少两quējīnshǎoliǎngHSK 4+

to give short weight

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

斤字由4笔画组成,结构很巧妙。

jīn zì yóu bǐ huà zǔ chéng , jié gòu hěn qiǎo miào .

The character "斤" consists of four strokes and has a very clever structure.

東森新聞Feb 2026

14岁少年健身遭190公斤杠铃重击 胸口瞬间凹陷

1 4 suì shǎo nián jiàn shēn zāo 1 9 0 gōng jīn gàng líng chóng jī xiōng kǒu shùn jiān āo xiàn

The 14-year-old boy was hit hard by a 190-kilogram barbell and his chest was instantly sunken

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

“人均粮”超500公斤,大国农业底气足!

rén jūn liáng chāo 5 0 0 gōng jīn , dà guó nóng yè de qì zú !

The "per capita grain" exceeds 500 kilograms, and the agriculture of a big country is full of confidence!

BastillepostFeb 2026

云南金铺遭蒙面贼洗劫损逾3公斤黄金 警方10小时破案助全数追回

yún nán jīn pù zāo méng miàn zéi xǐ jié sǔn yú 3 gōng jīn huáng jīn jǐng fāng 1 0 xiǎo shí pò àn zhù quán shǔ zhuī huí

Yunnan gold shop was looted by masked thieves and lost more than 3 kilograms of gold, and the police solved the case in 10 hours to help recover all of it

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

携1.5公斤黄金未申报!男2年不缴罚锾 金价暴涨后急...

xié 1 . 5 gōng jīn huáng jīn wèi shēn bào ! nán 2 nián bù jiǎo fá 锾 jīn jià bào zhǎng hòu jí . . .

With 1.5 kilograms of gold undeclared! The man did not pay the fine for 2 years, and the price of gold soared after the crisis...

99 健康网Feb 2026

男子误喝过期牛奶7个月暴瘦53斤,医生最新回应!

nán zǐ wù hē guò qī niú nǎi 7 gè yuè bào shòu 5 3 jīn , yī shēng zuì xīn huí yīng !

The man lost 53 pounds in 7 months after drinking expired milk by mistake, and the doctor's latest response!

Tatoeba

喂,这橘子多少钱买一斤啊?

Wèi, zhè júzi duōshao qián mǎi yī jīn ā?

Hey, how much does one pound of these oranges cost?

Tatoeba

能不能请您给我一公斤牛排?

Néng bù néng qǐng nín gěi wǒ yī gōngjīn niúpái?

Can you give me a kilo of steak?

Tatoeba

你达到 60 公斤重了吗?

Nǐ dádào 60 gōngjīn zhòng le ma?

Are you over 60 kilograms?

Tatoeba

一斤四元五毛,便宜得不得了!

Yī jīn sì yuán wǔ máo, piányi de bù déliǎo!

4.5 yuan for one pound, now isn't that cheap!

Character Family

斤 Radical Family — Characters sharing the axe radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced jīn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 斤 (jīn) mean in Chinese?
斤 (jīn) primarily means "catty." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1847 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 斤 have?
斤 is written with 4 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 斤?
The radical associated with 斤 is 斤 (axe). This radical appears in many characters related to axe.
What are the components of 斤?
斤 is composed of: 厂 (structural), 下 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸厂下 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 斤?
Common words with 斤 include: 公斤 (gōng jīn, "kilogram (kg)"); 斤斤计较 (jīn jīn jì jiào, "to haggle over every ounce"); 千斤顶 (qiān jīn dǐng, "jack (mechanical lifting device)"); 半斤八两 (bàn jīn bā liǎng, "not much to choose between the two"); 四两拨千斤 (sì liǎng bō qiān jīn, "(lit.) four ounces can move a thousand catties (idiom)"). There are over 18 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 斤 (jīn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jīn: 进 (to enter), 今 (now), 金 (metal, gold), 近 (near), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 斤 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 斤 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 斤 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.