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Character
寸
Strokes3
Radical寸
HSK6
FrequencyModerately common as a word component; very common as a written component and radical (对, 时, 封, 寺, 射, 尊 all contain it).
寸 is the traditional Chinese 'inch', a small unit of length (about 3.33 cm today, one tenth of a 尺). By extension it means 'tiny amount', which is why it shows up in words like 尺寸 (measurements/size) and 分寸 (a sense of proportion in how you behave). Learners also meet it constantly as a component and radical, inside 对, 时, 寺, 封, 村, 守 and many more.
measure word / nouncun, a Chinese inch; one tenth of a 尺 (chǐ), about 3.33 cm in the modern metric-aligned system
adjectivetiny, minute, very small (in extended use)
nounthe inch (English/imperial), usually written 英寸
How it is built
ideograph
Radical 寸. inch; also the 'hand/measure' radical in many characters.
又 (reduced to 寸's hook shape)meaning a picture of a hand
一 (the short mark, now the dot)meaning an indicator pointing to a spot just below the wrist
Origin
In bronze and seal script 寸 is a hand (the shape 又) with a short stroke added below the wrist. The added stroke is an abstract pointer, marking the place traditionally called 寸口 — the pulse point about one 'inch' down from the base of the palm. From that measured spot the character came to name the unit of length. This account goes back to the Shuowen Jiezi and is generally accepted, though the exact reasoning behind choosing the pulse point is a later rationalisation and cannot be checked against oracle-bone evidence, since clear oracle-bone forms of 寸 are not attested.
Remembering it
See a hand (the hook and stroke) with a dot marking the pulse just below the wrist — a hand's-breadth measure: one inch. As a component it usually still means 'hand doing something', as in 对, 封, 射.
寸 alone is not usually used as a free word in modern speech — you meet it inside compounds. For everyday measuring, Mandarin speakers say 厘米/公分 rather than 寸, and English inches are 英寸. In Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong, however, 寸 (cyun3) is used freely in daily life for the imperial inch: 五寸 = five inches, and screen and pipe sizes are quoted in 寸. Note also Hong Kong slang 寸 meaning 'cocky, arrogant' (佢好寸 — he's so full of himself), which does not exist in Mandarin. 分寸 is normally said with a neutral tone on the second syllable in Mandarin.
Context
寸口, the 'inch mouth' at the wrist, is where a traditional Chinese medicine doctor takes the pulse — the origin of the character's shape. 方寸 ('square inch') is an old poetic word for the heart, hence 方寸已乱, 'his heart is in turmoil'. The proverb 一寸光阴一寸金 ('an inch of time is an inch of gold') is one of the best-known sayings about not wasting time.
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This page was written by an AI language model and may contain errors, particularly in etymology. Check anything you plan to rely on.
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