noun #7,497

Meanings

  1. 1 krypton (chemical element, symbol Kr)
  2. 2 to spend money on in-app purchases or microtransactions

Examples

HSK 3
Tā zài zhège yóuxì lǐ kè le bùshǎo qián.
He spent a lot of money on microtransactions in this game.
HSK 7-9
Kè shì yī zhǒng xīyǒu qìtǐ.
Krypton is a noble gas.

Tips

usage
In Chinese internet slang, (from 氪金, 'krypton gold') means to spend real money on in-game purchases. 氪金玩家 refers to a 'pay-to-win player.' This usage comes from a Japanese mobile game.
culture
The slang sense is extremely common among young Chinese gamers. 微氪 means 'light spender,' 重氪 means 'heavy spender,' and 零氪 means 'free-to-play.'

Components

radical
gas; air; vapor
wraps the upper-right corner - the gas radical that flags this character as a noble gas. Modern Chinese chemistry uses this header systematically: , every gaseous element wears .
phonetic
to overcome; gram
supplies the sound kè directly. This is a modern coined character following the regular pattern: gas radical + phonetic = element name. The phonetic was chosen to approximate the kr- sound of krypton.

Stroke Order