一字千金

Chinese

		one; single; a one; single; a; (before verbs) as soon as, once; (before a noun) entire (family, etc.)	letter; symbol; character letter; symbol; character; word	thousand	metal; gold; money
simp. and trad. (一字千金)		一	字	千	金
Literally: “one character, one thousand gold”.

Etymology

When Lu Buwei wrote Lushi Chunqiu, he presented the finished book at the gate of Hanyang and offered a thousand taels to anyone who could correct even one character.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): yīzìqiānjīn

(Zhuyin): ㄧㄗˋ ㄑㄧㄢㄐㄧㄣ
Cantonese (Jyutping): jat¹ zi⁶ cin¹ gam¹

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: yīzìqiānjīn [Phonetic: yízìqiānjīn]
  - Zhuyin: ㄧㄗˋ ㄑㄧㄢㄐㄧㄣ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: yizìhcianjin
  - Wade–Giles: i¹-tzŭ⁴-chʻien¹-chin¹
  - Yale: yī-dz̀-chyān-jīn
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: itzyhchianjin
  - Palladius: ицзыцяньцзинь (iczycjanʹczinʹ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /i⁵⁵⁻³⁵ t͡sz̩⁵¹ t͡ɕʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵ t͡ɕin⁵⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: jat¹ zi⁶ cin¹ gam¹
  - Yale: yāt jih chīn gām
  - Cantonese Pinyin: jat⁷ dzi⁶ tsin¹ gam¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: yed¹ ji⁶ qin¹ gem¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɐt̚⁵ t͡siː²² t͡sʰiːn⁵⁵ kɐm⁵⁵/

Idiom

一字千金

extraordinary writing; uncommonly good writing

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (一字千金):

→ Japanese: 一(いち)字(じ)千金(せんきん) (ichiji senkin)

Japanese

Kanji in this term
一	字	千	金
いち Grade: 1	じ Grade: 1	せん Grade: 1	きん Grade: 1
on'yomi

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) いちじ・せんきん [ìchíꜜjì sèńkíń] (Nakadaka + Heiban – [2]-[0])

IPA^(key): [it͡ɕiʑi sẽ̞ŋʲkʲĩɴ]

Noun

一(いち)字(じ)千(せん)金(きん) • (ichiji senkin)

(idiomatic) a word of great value
very good handwriting or calligraphy
incomparable kind favor