千

千 (qiān) is the Chinese number 'thousand' (1,000). It works exactly like English in small multiples — 三千 (3,000), 五千 (5,000) — but Chinese groups large numbers in units of ten-thousand (万 wàn), not thousand, so '20,000' is 两万 (liǎng wàn), not 二十千. That single fact trips up most learners: above 9,999, stop counting in 千 and switch to 万. When 千 is the leading digit, '1,000' is usually 一千 (yì qiān) — the 一 is not dropped the way it can be after a higher unit. 千 also appears in fixed expressions like 千万 ('ten million,' literally 'thousand ten-thousands,' but used colloquially as 'by all means / never') and 千万别 ('absolutely don't').

Memory hook: 千 looks like a person 人 with a horizontal stroke through them — picture a crowd of one thousand.