殷 (yīn): dynasty name at the end the Shang dynasty, after its move to Yinxu 殷墟 in present-day Henan, dark red, flourishing

殷 (yīn) is a Chinese character meaning “dynasty name at the end the shang dynasty, after its move to yinxu 殷墟 in present-day henan.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 㐆 (structural) and 殳 (structural). It ranks #2295 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 殷 a midwife 殳 to helping a pregnant woman 㐆; 㐆 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 殳 (weapon) appears in many related characters such as 段 (duàn, paragraph), 毁 (huǐ, to destroy), 殴 (ōu, to beat up).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 殳 weapon10 strokesFrequency #2295㐆 structural殳 structural

Definitions

  1. dynasty name at the end the Shang dynasty, after its move to Yinxu 殷墟 in present-day Henan
  2. dark red
  3. flourishing

Etymology & Origin

殷

ideographicA midwife 殳 to helping a pregnant woman 㐆; 㐆 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰㐆殳 (layout: left-right)

Components:㐆structural殳structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
献殷勤xiàn yīn qínto be particularly attentive to (an attractive young lady or man etc)
殷勤yīn qínpolitely
殷切yīn qièardent
殷实yīn shíthriving
殷红yān hóngdark red
殷殷yīn yīnearnest
殷都区yīn dū qūYindu, a district of Anyang City 安陽市|安阳市[An1 yang2 Shi4], Henan
无事献殷勤，非奸即盗wú shì xiàn yīn qín , fēi jiān jí dàoone who is unaccountably solicitous is hiding evil intentions (idiom)
殷都yīn dūsee 殷都區|殷都区[Yin1 du1 Qu1]
殷商yīn shāngfinal name of the Shang dynasty after their move to Yinxu 殷墟 in modern Henan province
殷忧启圣yīn yōu qǐ shèngdeep suffering can lead to enlightenment (idiom)
殷富yīn fùwell off
红殷殷hóng yān yāndark red
孔殷kǒng yīnurgent
殷弘绪yīn hóng xùFrançois Xavier d'Entrecolles (1664-1741), French Jesuit missionary to Kangxi court
16
Total compounds
75
As first character
6
As last character
19
As middle character

殷 appears in 16 compound words: 75 as the first character, 6 as the last, and 19 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 殷 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

墟xū
0.5472,238 co-occurrences
堪kān
0.4902,088 co-occurrences
仲zhòng
0.4622,664 co-occurrences
勤qín
0.4412,448 co-occurrences
璀cuǐ
0.401114 co-occurrences
邓dèng
0.392660 co-occurrences
盼pàn
0.388222 co-occurrences
浩hào
0.3871,362 co-occurrences
郊jiāo
0.386918 co-occurrences
悼dào
0.384498 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

殷忧启圣yīn yōu qǐ shèngHSK 7+

deep suffering can lead to enlightenment (idiom); storms make oaks take deeper root

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

殷字由10笔画组成，结构很巧妙。

yīn zì yóu bǐ huà zǔ chéng , jié gòu hěn qiǎo miào .

The character "殷" consists of ten strokes and has a very ingenious structure.

三立新聞網Feb 2026

赛前练打陈伟殷亲喂 费仔曝看他投球长大

sài qián liàn dǎ chén wěi yīn qīn wéi fèi zǐ pù kàn tā tóu qiú cháng dà

Before the game, Chen Weiyin personally fed Fei Zai exposed that he grew up pitching

Character Family

殳 Radical Family — Characters sharing the weapon radical

殿diàn段duàn毁huǐ殴ōu毅yì

Related Characters

段duàn毁huǐ殴ōu殿diàn毅yì

Homophones — Characters pronounced yīn

因yīn阴yīn荫yìn音yīn银yín引yǐn饮yǐn隐yǐn印yìn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 殷 (yīn) mean in Chinese?
殷 (yīn) primarily means "dynasty name at the end the shang dynasty, after its move to yinxu 殷墟 in present-day henan." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2295 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 殷 and 始?
殷 (yīn) and 始 (shǐ) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 殷 (end) vs 始 (begin).
How many strokes does 殷 have?
殷 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 殷?
The radical associated with 殷 is 殳 (weapon). This radical appears in many characters related to weapon.
What are the components of 殷?
殷 is composed of: 㐆 (structural), 殳 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰㐆殳 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 殷?
Common words with 殷 include: 献殷勤 (xiàn yīn qín, "to be particularly attentive to (an attractive young lady or man etc)"); 殷勤 (yīn qín, "politely"); 殷切 (yīn qiè, "ardent"); 殷实 (yīn shí, "thriving"); 殷红 (yān hóng, "dark red"). There are over 16 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 殷 (yīn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yīn: 因 (cause), 阴 (overcast (weather)), 荫 ((bound form) shade (of a tree)), 音 (sound), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 殷 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 殷 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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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.