(qín): Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) of the first emperor 秦始皇, short name for 陝西|陕西

(qín) is a Chinese character meaning “qin dynasty (221–207 bc) of the first emperor 秦始皇.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural). It ranks #1386 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) of the first emperor 秦始皇
  2. short name for 陝西|陕西

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
qín cháoQin Dynasty (221-207 BC)
qín shǐ huángQin Shihuang (259-210 BC), the first emperor
qín dū qūQindu District in Xianyang City 咸陽市|咸阳市[Xian2 yang2 Shi4], Shaanxi
qín èr shìQin Ershi (229-207 BC), second Qin emperor
qín yuè rénQin Yueren (407-310 BC), Warring States physician known for his medical skills
qín shǐ huáng dìthe First Emperor 259-210 BC
qín jí liǎomythical talking bird
qín zhuànseal script as unified by the Qin dynasty
dà qínHan Dynasty term for the Roman Empire 羅馬帝國|罗马帝国[Luo2 ma3 Di4 guo2]
qín zhōu qūQinzhou, a district of Tianshui City 天水市[Tian1 shui3 Shi4], Gansu
hòu qínLater Qin of the Sixteen Kingdoms (384-417)
qín dūQindu District in Xianyang City 咸陽市|咸阳市[Xian2 yang2 Shi4], Shaanxi
qián qínFormer Qin (351–395), a dynastic state of China during the Sixteen Kingdoms period
qín guóthe state of Qin, one of the seven states of the Warring States Period (475-220 BC)
qín huáng dǎo shìQinhuangdao, prefecture-level city in Hebei Province 河北省[He2 bei3 Sheng3]
49
Total compounds
86
As first character
12
As last character
2
As middle character

appears in 49 compound words: 86 as the first character, 12 as the last, and 2 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.

huái
0.4836,198 co-occurrences
huáng
0.47825,092 co-occurrences
lǐng
0.4715,394 co-occurrences
wáng
0.43136,678 co-occurrences
hàn
0.42810,512 co-occurrences
dǎo
0.4259,750 co-occurrences
chǔ
0.3883,756 co-occurrences
0.3855,424 co-occurrences
lán
0.380582 co-occurrences
qiāng
0.3801,470 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

zhāoqínmùchǔHSK 7+

to be quick to switch sides

phrase
qín jìng gāo xuánHSK 7+

see 明鏡高懸|明镜高悬[ming2 jing4 gao1 xuan2]

phrase
Qín ShǐhuángdìHSK 7+

Alternative name for 秦始皇 (Qín Shǐhuáng, “Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of China”).

qín shǐ huáng língHSK 7+

the tomb of the first emperor at Mt Li 驪山|骊山[Li2 shan1] near Xi'an (awaits excavation)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

老师教我们字的发音和笔顺。

lǎo shī jiào wǒ men qín zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .

The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of the character Qin.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Mar 2026

西安官方通报“游客岭乱扔垃圾并与志愿者发生口角”事件:涉事...

xī ān guān fāng tōng bào yóu kè qín lǐng luàn rēng lā jī bìng yǔ zhì yuàn zhě fā shēng kǒu jiǎo shì jiàn : shè shì . . .

Xi'an authorities issue statement on incident involving "tourists littering in the Qinling Mountains and getting into an argument with volunteers": The individuals involved...

SmzdmMar 2026

比亚迪PLUS DM-i 210km版值得买吗...

bǐ yà dí qín P L U S D M i 2 1 0 k m bǎn zhí dé mǎi ma . . .

Is the BYD Qin PLUS DM-i 210km version worth buying...

中時新聞網Mar 2026

始皇统一后做错1事 大3年灭亡 司马光...

qín shǐ huáng tǒng yī hòu zuò cuò 1 shì dà qín 3 nián miè wáng sī mǎ guāng . . .

After unifying China, Emperor Qin Shi Huang made one mistake that led to the fall of the Qin Dynasty just three years later. Sima Guang...

光明网_新闻视野、文化视角、思想深度、理论高度Mar 2026

始皇帝陵博物院:把文保实验室“搬”进展厅

qín shǐ huáng dì líng bó wù yuàn : bǎ wén bǎo shí yàn shì bān jìn zhǎn tīng

Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum Museum: Bringing the Conservation Lab into the Exhibition Hall

99 健康网Mar 2026

皇岛割痔疮需要多少钱(附割痔疮权威医院详...

qín huáng dǎo gē 痔 疮 xū yāo duō shǎo qián ( fù gē 痔 疮 quán wēi yī yuàn xiáng . . .

How Much Does Hemorrhoid Surgery Cost in Qinhuangdao? (Including a List of Top Hospitals for Hemorrhoid Surgery...)

Tatoeba

最早的琵琶大约在朝时期发明的。

Zuì zǎo de pípa dàyuē zài Qíncháo shíqī fāmíng de.

The first lute was invented during the Qin dynasty.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced qín

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 秦 (qín) mean in Chinese?
秦 (qín) primarily means "qin dynasty (221–207 bc) of the first emperor 秦始皇." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1386 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 秦 and 长?
秦 (qín) and 长 (cháng) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 秦 (short) vs 长 (long).
How many strokes does 秦 have?
秦 is written with 10 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 秦?
The radical associated with 秦 is 禾 (grain). This radical appears in many characters related to grain.
What are the components of 秦?
秦 is composed of: 禾 (structural). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 秦?
Common words with 秦 include: 秦朝 (qín cháo, "Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC)"); 秦始皇 (qín shǐ huáng, "Qin Shihuang (259-210 BC), the first emperor"); 秦都区 (qín dū qū, "Qindu District in Xianyang City 咸陽市|咸阳市[Xian2 yang2 Shi4], Shaanxi"); 秦二世 (qín èr shì, "Qin Ershi (229-207 BC), second Qin emperor"); 秦越人 (qín yuè rén, "Qin Yueren (407-310 BC), Warring States physician known for his medical skills"). There are over 49 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 秦 (qín)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qín: 亲 (parent), 侵 (to invade), 钦 (to respect), 琴 (guqin 古琴 (a type of zither)), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 秦 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 秦 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.