殷 (yīn): abundant; flourishing

Meanings

1 abundant; flourishing
2 earnest; cordial; hospitable
3 the Yin/Shang dynasty; surname Yin

Characters

殷

yīn

abundant; earnest; the Yin dynasty

Examples

他对客人非常殷勤。

Tā duì kèrén fēicháng yīnqín.

He is extremely warm and attentive to guests.

殷商是中国古代的一个朝代。

Yīn shāng shì Zhōngguó gǔdài de yīgè cháodài.

The Yin-Shang is one of ancient China's dynasties.

他殷切地期盼着孩子的归来。

Tā yīnqiè de qīpàn zhe háizi de guīlái.

He earnestly waits for his child's return.

Tips

usage

Modern usage is almost entirely in compounds: 殷勤 (attentive), 殷切 (earnest), 殷实 (well-off). The character also has a second reading 殷 meaning 'dark red' - rare, mostly literary.

history

殷 names the late phase of the Shang dynasty (c. 1300-1046 BCE) after the capital moved to 殷墟 in modern-day Anyang, Henan - the site that produced the oracle bones (甲骨文) on which our knowledge of Shang Chinese rests.

Components

radical

殳 shū

pole-weapon; lance

Right side 殳 is the indexing radical - a hand gripping a bamboo pole-weapon. Combined with the bowing figure on the left, the picture is someone being prodded into a ceremonial dance. From that ritual scene came the meanings "abundant, flourishing, earnest" and the name of the Shang dynasty 殷商.

semantic

㐆 yǐn

a person turning the body

Left side depicts a figure twisting at the waist - the contracted body-turning graph 㐆. In the earliest oracle-bone forms 殷 showed a person being struck on the back during a ritual dance, and this turning silhouette preserves that gesture. Rare outside this character.