(jīn): metal, gold

(jīn) is a Chinese character meaning “metal, gold.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural). It ranks #260 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, a cast-iron bell. Its radical form (metal) appears in many related characters such as (qián, money), (cuò, wrong, mistake), (zhōng, clock, bell).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. metal, gold

Etymology & Origin

pictographicA cast-iron bell

Decomposition: ⿱人⿻王丷 (layout: top-bottom)

Components:structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounxiàn jīncash4
nounjīn shǔmetal6
nounzī jīnfunds5
nounjī jīnfund6
nounhuáng jīngold5
nounjīn qiánmoney6
nounjiǎng jīnpremium4
nounjīn zigold6
nounjiǎng xué jīnscholarship4
nounzū jīnrent5
nounjīn róngbanking6
nounjīn páigold medal6
nounjīn ésum of money6
nounyā jīndeposit5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
jīn fàblond
jīn sègolden
jīn kùtreasury
jīn bìgold coin
jīn gāngdiamond
bái jīnplatinum
jīn ménKinmen or Quemoy islands off the Fujian coast, administered by Taiwan
hé jīnalloy
jīn kuànggold mine
dìng jīndown payment
chóu jīnmonetary reward
fá jīnfine
bā jīnBa Jin (1904–2005), novelist, author of the trilogy 家春秋[Jia1 Chun1 Qiu1]
chún jīnpure gold
dìng jīnan initial payment
100
Total compounds
68
As first character
32
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 68 as the first character, 32 as the last, and 0 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

róng
0.631212,583 co-occurrences
pái
0.540219,810 co-occurrences
0.52422,464 co-occurrences
0.497306,582 co-occurrences
jiǎng
0.477100,702 co-occurrences
huáng
0.45973,542 co-occurrences
gāng
0.44223,682 co-occurrences
shǔ
0.440123,485 co-occurrences
0.426111,162 co-occurrences
méi
0.42334,716 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (60)

Báijīnhàn GōngHSK 6+

Buckingham Palace

bàijīnzhǔyìHSK 6+

money worship; mammonism

noun
biànxíng jīngāngHSK 5+

Transformer (toy)

noun
chénmò shì jīnHSK 5+

silence is golden

proverb
穿chuānjīndàiyínHSK 4+

to be gorgeously dressed and lavishly adorned

phrase
cùntǔcùnjīnHSK 6+

every inch of land is an inch of gold; land is extremely expensive in an area

phrase
duī jīn jī yùHSK 5+

lit. pile up gold and jade; very rich

phrase
gòngtóng jījīnHSK 4+

mutual fund

noun
gùruòjīntāngHSK 7+

strongly fortified; impregnable

phrase
guòdù jīnshǔHSK 6+

transition metal; transition element

noun
hēisè jīnshǔHSK 5+

iron, chromium, manganese and their alloys

noun
huángjīn fēngēHSK 6+

golden ratio; golden section

noun

Showing 12 of 60 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

融市场波动很大,投资者需要谨慎决策。

Jīnróng shìchǎng bōdòng hěn dà, tóuzīzhě xūyào jǐnshèn juécè.

Financial markets fluctuate greatly; investors need to make decisions carefully.

百度新闻Feb 2026

深夜,黄、白银、原油齐涨,美股三大指数集体上涨丨...

shēn yè , huáng jīn bái yín yuán yóu qí zhǎng , měi gǔ sān dà zhǐ shǔ jí tī shǎng zhǎng 丨 . . .

Late at night, gold, silver, crude oil rose, the three major U.S. stock indexes rose collectively 丨....

百度新闻Feb 2026

你还是曾经那个少年!苏翊鸣斩获中国队首

nǐ hái shì céng jīng nā gě shǎo nián ! sū 翊 míng zhǎn huò zhōng guó duì shǒu jīn

You're still the same teenager! Su Yiming wins China's first gold.

百度新闻Feb 2026

渝股2025年业绩预快报:科股份净利润325亿元..

yú gǔ nián yè jì yù kuài bào jīn kē gǔ fèn jìng lì rùn yì yuán . .

Chongqing Stock 2025 Preliminary Earnings Report: Jinke Co., Ltd. Net Profit Hits 32.5 Billion Yuan...

百度新闻Feb 2026

新冬能·场外音|关尹:超越胜负的拥抱比牌更可贵

xīn dōng néng chǎng wài yīn guān 尹 chāo yuè shèng fù de yōng bào bǐ jīn pái gēng kě guì

New Winter Energy | Off-Ice Commentary: Guan Yin: An Embrace Beyond Victory and Defeat Is More Precious Than Gold

百度新闻Feb 2026

...会DAY12观赛指南:刘少昂林孝埈携手冲

. . . huì guàn sài zhǐ nán liú shǎo áng lín xiào 埈 xié shǒu chōng jīn

Day 12 Viewing Guide: Liu Shaoang and Lim Hyo-joong Team Up for Gold

Tatoeba

哪个比较重,铅还是黄

Nǎge bǐjiào zhòng, qiān háishi huángjīn?

Which is heavier, lead or gold?

Tatoeba

能给我们一张代券吗?

Néng gěi wǒmen yī zhāng dài jīn quàn ma?

Can we get a voucher?

Tatoeba

克里斯取得了七枚幣!

Kè lǐ sī qǔdé le qī méi jīnbì!

Chris gets 7 gold coins!

Tatoeba

谁来为风险投资提供资

Shéi lái wèi fēngxiǎn tóuzī tígōng zījīn?

Who will provide capital for the venture?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced jīn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 金 (jīn) mean in Chinese?
金 (jīn) primarily means "metal, gold." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #260 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 金 have?
金 is written with 8 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 金?
The radical associated with 金 is 钅 (metal). In fact, 金 is itself the full form of this radical — the simplified radical form 钅 appears as a component in many related characters.
What are the components of 金?
金 is composed of: 人 (structural), undefined (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱人⿻王丷 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 金?
Common words with 金 include: 现金 (xiàn jīn, "cash"); 金属 (jīn shǔ, "metal"); 金发 (jīn fà, "blond"); 资金 (zī jīn, "funds"); 基金 (jī jīn, "fund"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 金 (jīn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jīn: 巾 (towel), 今 (now), 斤 (catty), 仅 (barely), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 金 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 金 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.