群 (qún): group; crowd; flock

Meanings

1 group; crowd; flock
2 measure word for groups of people or animals

Characters

群

qún

group; crowd; flock

Examples

一群孩子在玩。

Yī qún háizi zài wán.

A group of kids are playing.

天上飞过一群鸟。

Tiānshàng fēi guò yī qún niǎo.

A flock of birds flew across the sky.

你在哪个微信群？

Nǐ zài nǎge Wēixìn qún?

Which WeChat group are you in?

Tips

usage

In the internet age, 群 commonly refers to chat groups: 微信群 (WeChat group), QQ群 (QQ group), 建群 (create a group), 退群 (leave a group).

Components

radical

羊 yáng

sheep

Right 羊 (sheep) — the indexing radical. Sheep are the prototypical herd animal, so 羊 anchors the 'flock, group' meaning concretely. Compound ideograph: ruler + sheep = the lord with his flock = a group, a herd. Same radical anchors 美 (beautiful), 群 (group), 翔 (soar).

phonetic

君 jūn

ruler; lord

Left 君 supplies the sound (jūn → qún, a regular palatal-velar alternation). 君 itself depicts a hand holding a tally over a mouth — the figure who issues commands. Faint semantic echo: a ruler gathers followers, hence the 'flock' notion. Phonetic family: 郡 (commandery), 裙 (skirt) — all on 君.