qín
zither; a general name for certain musical instruments
Practice writing with stroke order guidance, audio pronunciation, and interactive exercises in our mobile app.
Step-by-step stroke order animations
Native speaker audio pronunciation
Interactive writing recognition
我喜欢弹琴。
wǒ xǐhuān tánqín.
I like to play the piano.
他正在弹琴。
tā zhèngzài tánqín.
He is playing the piano.
她会弹琴吗？
tā huì tánqín ma?
Can she play the piano?
古琴 (gǔqín)
ancient zither
七弦琴 (qīxiánqín)
seven-stringed zither
鼓 (gǔ)
drum
笛 (dí)
flute
The Chinese character 琴 (qín) for "zither" is composed of two parts: 琴 (qín) and 彡 (sān). 琴 is a pictograph of a seven-stringed zither, an ancient Chinese musical instrument. 彡 is a phonetic component that indicates the pronunciation of the character. The combination of these two components suggests that the character 琴 originally referred to a specific type of zither. Over time, the meaning of the character expanded to include other types of zithers and stringed instruments. Today, 琴 is commonly used to refer to any type of zither, including the guqin, the most well-known Chinese zither.
