Qín
noun #23,760

Meanings

  1. 1 Qin (dynasty, 221–207 BC)
  2. 2 Qin (surname)
  3. 3 short name for Shaanxi province

Examples

Qínshǐhuáng tǒngyī le Zhōngguó, jiànlì le Qíncháo.
Qin Shi Huang unified China and established the Qin dynasty.
Tā xìng Qín, shì yī wèi zhùmíng de lìshǐxuéjiā.
Her surname is Qin; she is a famous historian.

Tips

history
The Qin dynasty (秦朝, 221–207 BC) was the first unified imperial dynasty of China. Qin Shi Huang standardized weights, measures, writing, and currency across China. The English word 'China' is believed to derive from 'Qin'.
culture
also denotes the ancient state of Qin in the Warring States period, and is the short name for 陕西 (Shaanxi) province, the heartland of Qin civilization.

Components

radical
grain plant; cereal
The bottom (grain) is the indexing Kangxi radical and contributes the core agricultural meaning. The state of Qin in the Wei river valley was famous for its grain production, and grounds the graph in the cereal-radical family for lookup.
ideograph
qín
Qin dynasty; ancient state
Top portion functions as a single fused composite that the modern silhouette no longer cleanly splits into named pieces — too compacted to expose as separate elements. Historically two hands holding a pestle above grain, depicting threshing of the Qin region's signature crop. The radical retains its grain reading.

Stroke Order

Qín