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

HSK 6

他对客人非常殷勤。

Tā duì kèrén fēicháng yīnqín.

He is extremely warm and attentive to guests.

HSK 7-9

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.

HSK 7-9

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.