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): ㄧ ㄗˋ ㄑㄧㄢ ㄐㄧㄣ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): jat¹ zi⁶ cin¹ gam¹
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): it-chū-chhian-kim

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yīzìqiānjīn [Phonetic: yízìqiānjīn]
    • Zhuyin: ㄧ ㄗˋ ㄑㄧㄢ ㄐㄧㄣ
    • 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 t͡sɹ̩⁵¹ 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/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: it-chū-chhian-kim
    • Tâi-lô: it-tsū-tshian-kim
    • Phofsit Daibuun: itzuxchienkym
    • Sinological IPA (Xiamen): /it̚³²⁻⁴ t͡su²²⁻²¹ t͡sʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻²² kim⁴⁴/
    • Sinological IPA (Taipei): /it̚³²⁻⁴ t͡su³³⁻¹¹ t͡sʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻³³ kim⁴⁴/
    • Sinological IPA (Kaohsiung): /it̚³²⁻⁴ t͡su³³⁻²¹ t͡sʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻³³ kim⁴⁴/

Idiom

一字千金

1. 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)
• → Korean: 일자천금(一字千金) (iljacheon'geum)
• → Vietnamese: nhất tự thiên kim (一字千金)

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

• IPA^(key): [it͡ɕiʑi sẽ̞ŋʲkʲĩɴ]
• (Tokyo) いちじ・せんきん [ìchíꜜjì sèńkíń] (Nakadaka + Heiban – [2]+[0])

Noun

一(いち)字(じ)千(せん)金(きん) • (ichiji senkin) 

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

References

• “一字千金”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026