big numbers in Chinese head

Big Numbers In Chinese – The Ultimate Guide to Big Numbers in Mandarin Chinese

Big numbers in Chinese are confusing if you think in English terms. In this infographic, we teach you everything you need to know about big numbers in Chinese.

A main Difference

big numbers main difference

In English, we place the comma at every 3 digits, or say every 3 digits in a group.

But in Chinese, we place the comma at every 4 digits, or say every 4 digits in a group. 

Numbers in Chinese Categories

A big number (we only talk about a number 16 digits or less) can fall into 4 categories, each category contains 4 digits, while each digit corresponds to a name.

  1. “Small numbers category”, including “个 gè, ones” “十 shí, tens” “百 bǎi, hundreds” and “千 qiān, thounsands.
  2. “万  Wàn category”,
  3. “亿  Yì category”, and
  4. “兆  Zhào category”.

We made a table to show you the relationship and difference when talking about huge numbers in Chinese.

The columns from left to right are Number, Short scale name in English, Chinese character and pinyin, and Chinese name literal translation to English.

Every 4 digits in a category, the big numbers in Chinese will look like the list below:

NumberShort scale name in EnglishChinese character and pinyinChinese name literal translation to English
0Zero
Líng
Zero
10Ten
shí
Ten
100One Hundred一百
Yī bǎi
One Hundred
1000One Thousand一千
Yī qiān
One Thousand
1,0000Ten Thousand一万
Yī wàn
Ten Thousand*
10,0000 = 10^5One-Hundred Thousand十万
Shí wàn
Ten Ten-Thousand
100,0000 = 10^6One Million一百万
Yī bǎi wàn
One-Hundred Ten-thousand
1000,0000 = 10^7Ten Million一千万
Yī Qiān wàn
One-Thousand Ten-thousand
1,0000,0000 = 10^8One-Hundred Million一亿
Yī Yì
One-Hundred Million
10,0000,0000 = 10^9One Billion十亿
Shí Yì
Ten One-Hundred Million
100,0000,0000 = 10^10Ten Billion一百亿
Yī bǎi Yì
One-Hundred One-Hundred Million
1000,0000,0000 = 10^11One-Hundred Billion一千亿
Yī Qiān yì
One-Thousand One-Hundred Million
1,0000,0000,0000 = 10^12One Trillion一兆
Yī zhào
One Trillion
10,0000,0000,0000 = 10^13Ten Trillion十兆
Shí zhào
Ten Trillion
100,0000,0000,0000 = 10^14One-Hundred Trillion一百兆
Yī bǎi zhào
One-Hundred Trillion
1000,0000,0000,0000 = 10^15One Quadrillion一千兆
Yī Qiān zhào
One-Thousand Trillion
1,0000,0000,0000,0000 = 10^16Ten Quadrillion一京
Yī jīng
One Jing
1,0000,0000,0000,0000,0000 = 10^20One-Hundred Quintillion一垓
Yī gāi
One Gai
1,0000,0000,0000,0000,0000,0000 = 10^24One Septillion一秭
Yī zǐ
One Septillion

If you see the breakdown below, it makes more clearly the difference of large numbers  between English and Chinese

big number table explain

From Numbers to Chinese

Following this, we show you how to write a big number in Chinese characters and how to say it.

For instance,

You see a number “7915348

Step 1: Write down the numbers in numerals (just the numbers)

Step 2: Place comma at every 4 digits. “791,5348

Step 3: The first 3 numbers are 791, which you will say 七百九十一And it is under “ Wàn Category” So we combine them as “七百九十一万” 

Step 4: The last 4 numbers are 5348, which you will say 五千三百四十八.

Step 5: Combine step 3 & 4, this is how you say this number 七百九十一万五千三百四十八

Big number from number to Chinese

How to Write A Large Number in Chinese Characters

Next, we teach you how to write the number down from hearing it in Chinese. See the example in the infographic below.

Step 1: Write down the numbers in Chinese character or pinyin. 九十八万七千一百二十 jiǔ shí bā wàn qī qiān yī bǎi èr   shí

Step 2: Find if there is/are “万” “亿”, “兆” in the number (Find the names of the category) 九十八七千一百二十

Step 3: Separate them by small numbers, “万” “亿” and “兆”. In this case, the number is separated into two groups.

Group 1: 九十八

Group 2: 七千一百二十

Step 4: The first group you see the characters are “九十八”,  you know that is “98” (don’t worry about “万” here. It is for the category)

Step 5: The second group you see the characters are “七千一百二十”. You know that is “7120”.

Step 6: Combine step 4 & 5, this is how you write the number 987120.

Numbers in Chinese

Numbers up to 999 in Chinese

We have made a comprehend article about Chinese Numbers. If you are studying for Chinese Numbers, that is a must-read article. We walk through how to say the numbers from 0 to 1000 and EVERTHING you need to know about “numbers in Chinese.”

Simplified Chinese Version Infographic

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so we will be able to continue creating new infographics resources every day.

 

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Paste this text on the final work so the authorship is known.
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“Designed by Vividchinese.com”

Traditional Chinese Version Infographic

Big Numbers in Chinese Can-do checklist:

⃞    I can transcribe a number in Chinese up to 4 digits.

⃞    I can transcribe a number in Chinese up to 8 digits.

⃞    I can transcribe a number in Chinese up to 12 digits.

⃞    I can say a big number (up to 13 digits) in Chinese correctly.

⃞    I can write a big number in Chinese characters when I see it in numerals.

⃞    I can write a big number in numerals when I hear it in Chinese.

6 comments

  1. Cassy

    Hi, thank you, amazing work!

    However I got a problem that I encounter numbers like: 184.6 亿 、 60.3 亿、3.75亿、440亿 、0.67亿 …. So in this case…. The numbers with the dot are bigger then without dots?

    So in this case whenever I see 亿 I will put 8 zeros and re-arrange the dots? Is there an easy way?

    Thank you!

    1. Karen

      Hi Cassy,

      I am very happy to see your comment! I guess it is because Chinese and math are my two favorite subjects! Lol
      OK, here is how you write those big numbers:

      Keep it in mind: 亿=100000000

      184.6亿 = 184.6 x 100000000 = 184,6000,0000 一百八十四亿六千万 Yībǎi bāshísì yì liùqiān wàn
      60.3亿 = 60.3 x 100000000 = 60,3000,0000 六十亿三千万 Liùshí yì sānqiān wàn
      3.75亿 = 3.75 x 100000000 = 3,7500,0000 三亿七千五百万 Sān yì qīqiān wǔbǎi wàn
      440亿 = 440 x 10000000 = 440,0000,0000 四百四十亿 Sìbǎi sìshí yì
      0.67亿 = 0.67 x 100000000 = 67000000 六千七百万 Liùqiān qībǎi wàn

      But I will say, for big numbers, people understand if you say 184.6亿 as “一百八十四点六亿 Yībǎi bāshísì diǎn liù yì”
      Same as other numbers! 🙂

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