谦 (qiān): modest
谦 (qiān) is a Chinese character meaning “modest.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 讠 (semantic) and 兼 (phonetic). It ranks #2276 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 谦 speech. Its radical form 讠 (speech) appears in many related characters such as 认 (rèn, to recognize, to admit), 记 (jì, to remember, to record), 识 (shí, to know, knowledge).
Definitions
- modest
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 谦 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 谦
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 谦卑adjective | qiān bēi | humble |
| 谦逊adjective | qiān xùn | humble |
| 谦恭adjective | qiān gōng | polite and modest |
| 谦和adjective | qiān hé | meek |
| 谦让verb | qiān ràng | to modestly decline |
| 自谦adjective | zì qiān | modest |
| 满招损，谦受益 | mǎn zhāo sǔn , qiān shòu yì | (idiom) complacency leads to loss, modesty brings profit |
| 谦称verb | qiān chēng | modest appellation |
| 谦语 | qiān yǔ | humble expression |
| 谦词noun | qiān cí | modest word (grammar) |
| 谦诚adjective | qiān chéng | modest and sincere |
| 谦辞 | qiān cí | humble words |
| 囊谦县 | náng qiān xiàn | Nangqên, a county in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 玉樹藏族自治州|玉树藏族自治州, Qinghai |
| 囊谦proper-noun | náng qiān | see 囊謙縣|囊谦县 |
谦 appears in 15 compound words: 73 as the first character, 13 as the last, and 13 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 谦 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Example Sentences
警是个大佬丨林盛斌首度担正男一谦称“二三线” 自爆成医生界“公敌”忙抄牌...
jǐng shì gè dà 佬 丨 lín shèng 斌 shǒu dù dān zhèng nán yī qiān chèn èr sān xiàn zì bào chéng yī shēng jiè gōng dí máng chāo pái . . .
A Big Shot in the Police Force | Lin Shengbin Takes on His First Leading Role but Modestly Calls Himself a "Second- or Third-Tier" Actor; Reveals He's the Medical Community's "Public Enemy" and Busy Issuing Tickets...
谢德谦:伦敦打吡斗智斗力
xiè dé qiān : lún dūn dǎ 吡 dǒu zhì dǒu lì
Xie Deqian: London Derby wits and strength
冯允谦返加国见另一半无被催婚 未收到陈柏宇邀请...
píng yǔn qiān fǎn jiā guó jiàn lìng yī bàn wú bèi cuī hūn wèi shōu dào chén bǎi yǔ yāo qǐng . . .
Feng Yunqian returned to Canada and saw that his other half was not urged to get married, and did not receive an invitation from Chen Baiyu...
世界杯男篮/陈盈骏、林庭谦联手开炮 中华队半场10分领先南韩
shì jiè bēi nán lán chén yíng jùn lín tíng qiān lián shǒu kāi pào zhōng huá duì bàn chǎng fēn lǐng xiān nán hán
World Cup men's basketball team/Chen Yingjun and Lin Tingqian teamed up to fire the Chinese team led South Korea by 10 points at halftime
谢德谦:北伦敦打吡 寸土必争
xiè dé qiān běi lún dūn dǎ 吡 cùn tǔ bì zhēng
Xie Deqian: North London Derby - Every Inch Counts
获得诺贝尔奖后，她仍谦虚如昔。
Huòdé Nuòbèi'ěr Jiǎng hòu, tā réng qiānxū rú xī.
After winning the Nobel prize, she remained as modest as ever.
过度的谦逊就是骄傲。
Guòdù de qiānxùn jiùshì jiāo'ào.
Too much humility is pride.
那个谦逊的男人跟邻里相处得很好。
Nàge qiānxùn de nánrén gēn línlǐ xiāngchǔ dehěn hǎo.
The humble man is getting along with his neighbors.
他的谦逊值得尊敬。
Tā de qiānxùn zhíde zūnjìng.
His modesty is worth respecting.
那个男孩没有因为他同学的笑而谦卑。
Nàge nánhái méiyǒu yīnwèi tā tóngxué de xiào ér qiānbēi.
The boy was not humiliated by the laughter of his classmates.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 讠 (speech) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 谦 (qiān) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 谦 and 嫌?
How many strokes does 谦 have?
What is the radical of 谦?
What are the components of 谦?
What are common words containing 谦?
What characters sound the same as 谦 (qiān)?
Is 谦 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 谦 with real-time feedback
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