印 (yìn): abbr. for 印度, India, to print, to mark

印 (yìn) is a Chinese character meaning “to print.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 卩 (structural). It ranks #640 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 印 a hand 爪 stamping a seal 卩. Its radical form 卩 (seal) appears in many related characters such as 卫 (wèi, vassal state during the Zhou Dynasty (1066–221 BC), located in present-day Henan and Hebei Provinces), 危 (wēi, danger), 即 (jí, namely).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. abbr. for 印度, India
  2. to print
  3. to mark

Etymology & Origin

印

ideographicA hand 爪 stamping a seal 卩

Components:卩structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 印

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
印象nounyìn xiàngimpression (sth that stays in one's mind)4
脚印nounjiǎo yìnfootprint6
打印verbdǎ yìnto affix a seal4
印刷verbyìn shuāto print5
复印verbfù yìnto photocopy4
打印机noundǎ yìn jīprinter4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
印度proper-nounyìn dùIndia
印第安adjectiveyìn dì ān(American) Indian
印记nounyìn jìimprint
复印件nounfù yìn jiànphotocopy
印第安纳yìn dì ān nàIndiana, US state
印章nounyìn zhāngseal
复印机nounfù yìn jīphotocopier
手印nounshǒu yìnhandprint
烙印nounlào yìnto brand (cattle etc)
影印verbyǐng yìnphotographic reproduction
印尼proper-nounyìn níIndonesia (abbr. for 印度尼西亞|印度尼西亚)
印度教proper-nounyìn dù jiàoHinduism
印花nounyìn huātax stamp
印痕nounyìn hénmark
印度人proper-nounyìn dù rénIndian (person)
101
Total compounds
51
As first character
44
As last character
5
As middle character

印 appears in 101 compound words: 51 as the first character, 44 as the last, and 5 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 印 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

刷shuā
0.71939,144 co-occurrences
度dù
0.569204,795 co-occurrences
象xiàng
0.55532,542 co-occurrences
刻kè
0.54316,999 co-occurrences
尼ní
0.49553,902 co-occurrences
封fēng
0.47619,026 co-occurrences
深shēn
0.43210,872 co-occurrences
写xiě
0.430112 co-occurrences
让ràng
0.412124 co-occurrences
别bié
0.410114 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

胶版印刷jiāo bǎn yìn shuāHSK 6+

offset printing

phrase
刻板印象kèbǎn yìnxiàngHSK 4+

stereotype (conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image)

noun
孔版印刷kǒng bǎn yìn shuāHSK 7+

screen printing

phrase
凸版印刷tū bǎn yìn shuāHSK 7+

relief printing; typography; printing with metal plates

phrase
印第安纳yìn dì ān nàHSK 6+

Indiana, US state

phrase
印第安人yìn dì ān rénHSK 4+

American Indians

phrase
印度斯坦YìndùsītǎnHSK 7+

Hindustan

Showing 7 of 8 idioms containing 印.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学习印字需要反复练习,才能写得工整。

xué xí yìn zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .

Learning to print requires repeated practice to achieve neat handwriting.

TvbsFeb 2026

天气恶劣要求换航线!印度医疗专机失联坠毁 机上7人全罹难

tiān qì è liè yāo qiú huàn háng xiàn ! yìn dù yī liáo zhuān jī shī lián zhuì huǐ jī shàng 7 rén quán 罹 nán

Bad weather requires a change of route! The Indian medical plane lost contact and crashed, killing all seven people on board

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

外资买亚股 最爱印度 上周买超3.7亿美元最多

wài zī mǎi yà gǔ zuì ài yìn dù shàng zhōu mǎi chāo 3 . 7 yì měi yuán zuì duō

Foreign investors buy Asian stocks and love India last week bought more than $370 million

百度新闻Feb 2026

印度AI峰会现尴尬一幕:在总理莫迪出席的场...

yìn dù A I fēng huì xiàn gān gà yī mù : zài zǒng lǐ mò dí chū xí de chǎng . . .

An embarrassing scene at the India AI Summit: at the venue attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi...

百度新闻Feb 2026

挺不住了?印度急切“从中国进口”

tǐng bù zhù le ? yìn dù jí qiē cóng zhōng guó jìn kǒu

Can't hold on? India is eager to "import from China"

Tatoeba

你对美国印象如何?

Nǐ duì Měi guó yìnxiàng rúhé?

What is your impression of America?

Tatoeba

可以借你的印台一用吗?

Kěyǐ jiè nǐ de yìntái yī yòng ma?

May I use your ink pad?

Tatoeba

啊?我们说过要去公园吗?我没有印象。

ā? wǒmen shuō guo yào qù gōngyuán ma? wǒ méiyǒu yìnxiàng.

Eh? We said we'd go to the park? I didn't realise.

Tatoeba

你对他的印象怎么样?

Nǐ duì tā de yìnxiàng zěnmeyàng?

What's your impression of that person like?

Tatoeba

印度的人口有多少?

Yìndù de rénkǒu yǒu duōshao?

What is the population of India?

Character Family

卩 Radical Family — Characters sharing the seal radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced yìn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 印 (yìn) mean in Chinese?
印 (yìn) primarily means "to print." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #640 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 印 have?
印 is written with 5 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 印?
The radical associated with 印 is 卩 (seal). This radical appears in many characters related to seal.
What are the components of 印?
印 is composed of: 卩 (structural). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 印?
Common words with 印 include: 印象 (yìn xiàng, "impression (sth that stays in one's mind)"); 印度 (yìn dù, "India"); 印第安 (yìn dì ān, "(American) Indian"); 脚印 (jiǎo yìn, "footprint"); 打印 (dǎ yìn, "to affix a seal"). There are over 101 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 印 (yìn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yìn: 因 (cause), 引 (to draw (e.g. a bow)), 音 (sound), 银 (silver, bank), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 印 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 印 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 印 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.