金

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gold; chemical element Au; generic term for lustrous and ductile metals; money; golden; highly respected; one of the eight categories of ancient musical instruments 八音[ba1 yin1]

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HSK 3.0: Level 3
Old HSK: Level 4
Strokes: 8
Radical: 金 itself
Structure: Top–bottom 上下
Traditional: 金
Common rank: #35
Unicode: U+91D1

Sound it out + =

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

How 金 is formed

Pictograph (象形字)

A cast-iron bell

Components 人王丷

How to remember it

gold · Heisig RSH #279

umbrella + scepter + a drop of — as a component also called: gold, metal

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

Words with 金

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

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
金山区	Jīn shān qū	Jinshan suburban district of Shanghai
金大中	Jīn Dà zhōng	Kim Dae-jung (1926-2009), South Korea politician, president 1998-2003, Nobel peace prize l…
金水区	Jīn shuǐ Qū	Jinshui, a district of Zhengzhou City 鄭州市\|郑州市[Zheng4 zhou1 Shi4], Henan
金子	Jīn zǐ	Kaneko (Japanese surname)
金子	jīn zi	gold
金县	Jīn xiàn	King County
金山	Jīn shān	Jinshan suburban district of Shanghai; Jinshan or Chinshan township in New Taipei City 新北市…
小金县	Xiǎo jīn Xiàn	Xiaojin, a county in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture 阿壩藏族羌族自治州\|阿坝藏族羌族自治州[A1 …
金水	Jīn shuǐ	see 金水區\|金水区[Jin1 shui3 Qu1]
金安区	Jīn ān Qū	Jin'an, a district of Lu'an City 六安市[Lu4 an1 Shi4], Anhui
小金	Xiǎo jīn	see 小金縣\|小金县[Xiao3 jin1 Xian4]
白金	bái jīn	platinum; silver; white gold; (Singapore) money gift at a funeral
金平县	Jīn píng Xiàn	see 金平苗族瑤族傣族自治縣\|金平苗族瑶族傣族自治县[Jin1 ping2 Miao2 zu2 Yao2 zu2 Dai3 zu2 Zi4 zhi4 xian4]
金平区	Jīn píng Qū	Jinping, a district of Shantou City 汕頭市\|汕头市[Shan4 tou2 Shi4], Guangdong
金安	Jīn ān	see 金安區\|金安区[Jin1 an1 Qu1]
金门县	Jīn mén xiàn	Kinmen County, Taiwan (the Kinmen or Quemoy islands off the Fujian coast); Jinmen county i…
新金县	Xīn jīn xiàn	Xinjin county in Liaoning
金发	jīn fà	blond; blonde; fair-haired
金文	jīn wén	inscription in bronze; bell-cauldron inscription
金石学	jīn shí xué	epigraphy

Sound family

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

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
金 sound part	jīn	gold, metal; money
唫	jìn	to hum, to intone; to close, to shut
淦	gàn	a river in Jiangxi province; water leaking into a boat