jiǔ
number HSK 1 #2,040

Meanings

  1. 1 nine

Characters

Examples

Xiànzài jiǔ diǎn le.
It's nine o'clock now.
Jiǔyuè shì qiūtiān.
September is autumn.

Tips

culture
sounds like 'long-lasting', making it very auspicious. The number 9 is associated with the emperor — the Forbidden City has 9,999 rooms.
culture
九九重阳节 (Double Ninth Festival) on the 9th day of the 9th lunar month is a day to honor elders.

Components

radical
丿 piě
left-falling stroke
The indexing radical is the opening left-falling stroke, classed under 丿 in Xinhua. Pedagogically loose but visually clear: the character is built from this slant plus the curving hook below, with no further decomposition possible — an abstract numeral skeleton.
ideograph
second heavenly stem; bending shape
Curving hook stroke: an abstract bending shape that combines with the slant above to form the two-stroke numeral nine — one of the most economical glyphs in the script. Origin is debated (possibly elbow or bent finger), but the modern silhouette functions as a pure tally.

Stroke Order

jiǔ