HSK 6 · Money

本钱 běnqián “capital” in Chinese

Traditional 本錢

What 本钱 means

  1. capital
  2. principal
  3. asset
  4. (fig.) asset
  5. advantage
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • the means (to do sth)

How to say 本钱

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale本běn3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale钱qián2nd tone, rising

本钱 in a sentence

  1. 年轻就是本钱。

    Niánqīng jiùshì běnqián.

    Youth is an asset.

    Sentence #11406546 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

How 本钱 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 本 (běn) with each of its parts in a different colour
本běnroot; stem
  • 木tree · mù
  • 一one · yī

Memory aidA tree 木 with a mark 一 on its roots: root, origin.

The character 钱 (qián) with each of its parts in a different colour
钱qiáncoin
  • 钅gold form of 金 · jīnMeaning part
  • 戋small · jiānSound part

钅 hints at the meaning (gold); 戋 (jiān) hints at the sound. Compare it with qián.

How to write 本钱

本 5 strokes · 钱 10 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

本钱 (běnqián) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 本钱 (běnqián). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 本钱

Words with 本

本běn · measure word for books本子běnzi · book课本kèběn · textbook笔记本bǐjìběn · notebook本来běnlái · original根本gēnběn · (not) at all本科běnkē · undergraduate course本领běnlǐng · skill本质běnzhì · essence基本jīběn · basic

Words with 钱

钱qián · money零钱língqián · change (of money)压岁钱yāsuìqián · money given to children at Chinese New Year

More words: Money & Economy

支票zhīpiào · cheque资金zījīn · funds资源zīyuán · resources昂贵ángguì · expensive博览会bólǎnhuì · exhibition补偿bǔcháng · to compensate补贴bǔtiē · subsidy财富cáifù · wealth

FAQs

本钱 (běnqián) means “capital” or “principal”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it běnqián: běn with a 3rd tone, then qián with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 本钱 is written 本錢. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type benqian with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 本钱 from the suggestions. Typing benqian into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
本钱 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.