今

Tap the pinyin to hear it

now; the present time; current; contemporary; this (day, year etc)

Sound it out + =

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

Ideographic compound (会意字)

A mouth 亼 talking about things

Components 人 ? unknown part

now · Heisig RSH #1244

meeting — as a component also called: clock

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
今天	jīn tiān	today; the present time; now
今年	jīn nián	this year
今文经学	jīn wén jīng xué	Former Han dynasty school of Confucian scholars
古今中外	gǔ jīn zhōng wài	at all times and in all places (idiom)
今日头条	Jīn rì Tóu tiáo	Toutiao, personalized content recommendation app
大长今	Dà cháng jīn	Dae Jang Geum, a 2003 Korean historical drama TV series
古今小说	Gǔ jīn Xiǎo shuō	Stories Old and New by Feng Menglong 馮夢龍\|冯梦龙[Feng2 Meng4 long2], collection of late Ming b…
事到今日	shì dào jīn rì	under the circumstances; the matter having come to that point
今文经	jīn wén jīng	Former Han dynasty school of Confucian scholars
事到如今	shì dào rú jīn	as matters stand; things having reached this stage
今古文	jīn gǔ wén	Former Han dynasty study or rewriting of classical texts such as the Confucian six classic…
博古通今	bó gǔ tōng jīn	conversant with things past and present; erudite and informed
从今以后	cóng jīn yǐ hòu	from now on; henceforward
时至今日	shí zhì jīn rì	(idiom) up to the present; even now; now (in contrast with the past); at this late hour
今人	jīn rén	modern people
今生	jīn shēng	this lifetime
今儿	jīn r	(coll.) today
今儿个	jīn r ge	(coll.) today
现如今	xiàn rú jīn	nowadays; now
今日	jīn rì	today

These characters use 今 as their sound component — compare how they read.

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
今 sound part	jīn	modern, current; today, now
含	hán	to hold in the mouth; to contain; to cherish
贪	tān	greedy, covetous; corrupt
吟	yín	to sing, to hum; to recite; a type of poetry
黔	qián	black; the Guizhou province
岑	cén	steep, precipitous; peak
矜	jīn	to pity, to sympathize, to feel sorry for
衾	qīn	quilt, coverlet
妗	jìn	mother's brother's wife
侌	yīn	old variant of 陰\|阴[yin1]
芩	qín	salt-marsh plant
衿	jīn	collar, lapel
钤	qián	lock, latch; to stamp, to seal