因 (yīn): cause, reason, because
因 (yīn) is a Chinese character meaning “cause.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 囗 (structural) and 大 (structural). It ranks #96 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Definitions
- cause
- reason
- because
Stroke Order
Practice writing 因 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 因
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 因为preposition/conjunction | yīn wèi | because | 2 |
| 原因noun | yuán yīn | cause | 4 |
| 因此conjunction | yīn cǐ | thus | 4 |
| 基因noun | jī yīn | gene (loanword) | 6 |
| 因素noun | yīn sù | element | 5 |
| 因而conjunction | yīn ér | therefore | 5 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 可卡因 | kě kǎ yīn | cocaine (loanword) |
| 死因 | sǐ yīn | cause of death |
| 海洛因 | hǎi luò yīn | (loanword) heroin |
| 因果 | yīn guǒ | karma |
| 爱因斯坦 | ài yīn sī tǎn | Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German-born theoretical physicist |
| 咖啡因 | kā fēi yīn | caffeine (loanword) |
| 病因 | bìng yīn | cause of disease |
| 起因 | qǐ yīn | cause |
| 因特网 | yīn tè wǎng | Internet |
| 因子 | yīn zǐ | factor |
| 得梅因 | dé méi yīn | Des Moines, capital of Iowa |
| 诱因 | yòu yīn | cause |
| 缅因 | miǎn yīn | Maine, US state |
| 成因 | chéng yīn | cause |
| 基因组 | jī yīn zǔ | genome |
因 appears in 100 compound words: 24 as the first character, 42 as the last, and 34 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 因 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (18)
to become stagnant or obsolete due to rigid adherence to tradition; to be devoid of any innovation
Showing 12 of 18 idioms containing 因.
Example Sentences
因为下雨，原定的户外活动取消了。
Yīnwèi xià yǔ, yuándìng de hùwài huódòng qǔxiāo le.
Due to rain, the scheduled outdoor activities were canceled.
...男下車墜橋亡」!家屬悲赴殯儀館 相驗追死因
. . . nán xià 車 墜 橋 wáng ! jiā 屬 bēi fù 殯 儀 館 xiāng 驗 zhuī sǐ yīn
Man Falls to Death from Bridge After Getting Out of Car! Family Members Heartbroken as They Head to Funeral Home; Autopsy to Determine Cause of Death
許光漢日本新片突然停拍 製作公司親解原因
許 guāng 漢 rì běn xīn piàn tū rán tíng pāi 製 zuò gōng sī 親 jiě yuán yīn
Hsu Kuang-han's New Japanese Film Suddenly Halts Production; Production Company Explains Reason
科學重大突破!研究證實:貓咪癌症基因與人類高度相似 有助開發新療法
kē 學 chóng dà tū pò ! yán jiū 證 實 貓 咪 ái zhèng jī yīn 與 rén 類 gāo dù xiāng sì yǒu zhù 開 發 xīn 療 fǎ
Major scientific breakthrough! Research confirms: Cat cancer genes highly similar to humans, paving the way for new therapies
網友推估年收破3億 老高小茉不生孩子原因曝光
網 yǒu tuī gū nián shōu pò 億 lǎo gāo xiǎo 茉 bù shēng hái zǐ yuán yīn pù guāng
Netizens estimate annual income exceeds 300 million yuan; reason why Lao Gao and Xiao Mo don't have children revealed
...嚴禁送孩出國留學」否則斷金援:不認孩!原因曝
. . . 嚴 jīn sòng hái chū 國 liú 學 fǒu 則 斷 jīn yuán bù 認 hái ! yuán yīn pù
"Strictly Prohibited: Sending Children Abroad for Education" Otherwise, Financial Support Will Be Cut Off: No Recognition of Children! Reason Revealed
...楊高架小黃乘客離奇墜橋亡 檢警相驗釐清原因
. . . 楊 gāo jià xiǎo 黃 chéng kè 離 qí 墜 橋 wáng 檢 jǐng xiāng 驗 釐 qīng yuán yīn
Passenger Falls to Death from Yang Elevated Highway in Bizarre Incident; Prosecutors and Police Conduct Autopsy to Determine Cause
斯洛伐克政府因乌克兰中断俄罗斯石油过境运输,宣布自..
sī 洛 fá kè zhèng fǔ yīn wū kè lán zhōng duàn é luó sī shí yóu guò jìng yùn shū , xuān bù zì . .
The Government of Slovakia, in response to Ukraine's interruption of Russian oil transit, has announced that since...
我有必要向他解释原因吗？
Wǒ yǒu bìyào xiàng tā jiěshì yuányīn ma?
Is it necessary for me to explain the reason to him?
爆炸的原因是什么？
Bàozhà de yuányīn shì shénme?
What was the cause of the explosion?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 因 (yīn) mean in Chinese?
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What characters sound the same as 因 (yīn)?
Is 因 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 因 with real-time feedback
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