HSK 4 · Work

零钱 língqián “change (of money)” in Chinese

Traditional 零錢

What 零钱 means

  1. change (of money)
  2. small change
  3. pocket money

How to say 零钱

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale零líng2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale钱qián2nd tone, rising

零钱 in a sentence

  1. 有零钱吗？

    Yǒu língqián ma?

    Do you have any change?

    Sentence #12686118 from Tatoeba

  2. 不用找零钱了。

    Búyòng zhǎo língqián le.

    Keep the change.

    Sentence #1411509 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 不好意思，我没零钱。

    Bùhǎoyìsi, wǒ méi língqián.

    Sorry, I don’t have any change.

    Sentence #7798822 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 零钱 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 零 (líng) with each of its parts in a different colour
零língzero
  • 雨rain · yǔMeaning part
  • 令command · língSound part

雨 hints at the meaning (rain); 令 (líng) hints at the sound. Compare it with líng.

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 零钱

零 13 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.

零钱 (língqián) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 零钱 (língqián). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 零钱

Words with 零

零líng · zero零食língshí · between-meal nibbles零件língjiàn · part零星língxīng · scattered

Words with 钱

钱qián · money本钱běnqián · capital压岁钱yāsuìqián · money given to children at Chinese New Year

More words: School, Work & Culture

经历jīnglì · experience经验jīngyàn · experience警察jǐngchá · police竞争jìngzhēng · to compete律师lǜshī · lawyer生意shēngyi · business师傅shīfu · master收入shōurù · income

FAQs

零钱 (língqián) means “change (of money)” or “small change”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it língqián: líng with a 2nd 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, 零钱 is written 零錢. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type lingqian with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 零钱 from the suggestions. Typing lingqian into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
零钱 is an HSK 4 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.