寸
Tap the pinyin to hear it
a unit of length; inch; thumb
- HSK 3.0
- Level 4
- Old HSK
- Level 6
- Strokes
- 3
- Radical
- 寸 itself
- Structure
- Single component 独体
- Traditional
- 寸
- Common rank
- #1,701
- Unicode
- U+5BF8
Sound it out + =
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
How 寸 is formed
Ideographic compound (会意字)
A hand with a dot indicating where the pulse can be felt, about an inch up the wrist
How to remember it
Chinese inch · Heisig RSH #166
a drop of + 十 ten — as a component also called: glue, glued to
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Words with 寸
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 尺有所短，寸有所长 | lit. for some things a foot may be too short, and for the other an inch will suffice (prov… | |
| 寸草不生 | (idiom) barren; devoid of vegetation | |
| 手无寸铁 | lit. not an inch of steel (idiom); unarmed and defenseless | |
| 一寸光阴一寸金 | (saying) time is precious | |
| 方寸大乱 | (idiom) to become agitated; to get worked up | |
| 寸步难行 | unable to move a single step (idiom); to be in an (extremely) difficult situation | |
| 寸步不离 | to follow sb closely (idiom); to keep close to | |
| 一寸光阴一寸金，寸金难买寸光阴 | (lit.) an interval of time is worth an ounce of gold, money cannot buy you time (saying); … | |
| 三寸不烂之舌 | to have a silver tongue; to have the gift of the gab | |
| 鼠目寸光 | short-sighted | |
| 没分寸 | inappropriate; bad-mannered | |
| 寸金难买寸光阴 | An ounce of gold can't buy you an interval of time (idiom); Money can't buy you time.; Tim… | |
| 寸步难移 | see 寸步難行|寸步难行[cun4 bu4 nan2 xing2] | |
| 三寸金莲 | (historical) bound foot (esp. one only three inches long, considered the ideal size of a w… | |
| 寸口脉 | pulse taken at the wrist (TCM) | |
| 得寸进尺 | lit. win an inch, want a foot (idiom); fig. not satisfied with small gains; give him an in… | |
| 市寸 | cun (Chinese unit of length equal to ⅓ decimeter) | |
| 寸头 | (male hair style) crew cut; butch cut | |
| 头寸 | (finance) cash position; position | |
| 分寸 | propriety; appropriate behavior; proper speech or action; within the norms |
Sound family
These characters use 寸 as their sound component — compare how they read.