What does 今 mean in Chinese?

今 (jīn) means "today, now" in Chinese. The new HSK exam expects you to recognise it at HSK 1.

How do you write 今?

今 is written with 4 strokes, starting from the 人 (person) radical and following standard Chinese stroke order (top to bottom, left to right). See the interactive stroke-order tool for the full animation.

What is the radical of 今?

The radical of 今 is 人 (person, Kangxi radical #9). Other common HSK characters using the same radical include 人, 会, 个, 以.

How many strokes does 今 have?

The Chinese character 今 has 4 strokes.

What HSK level is 今?

On the new HSK exam syllabus, 今 is a character to recognise at HSK 1 and to write by hand at HSK 2 (the handwriting list HSK 1 and 2 share).

今 (jīn): Meaning, Stroke Order, Radical & Examples

今

jīn

today, now

HSK 1 character 4 strokes Radical: 人 (person)

Quick Answer

今 (jīn) means "today, now" with 4 strokes, radical 人 (person), HSK 1 on the new exam.

Full dictionary entry for 今 →Animated stroke-order for 今 →

Pronunciation

jīn

Meaning

Primary: today

Other meanings:

Etymology

Oracle-bone origin

In oracle bone and bronze script 今 shows an inverted triangular or bell-shaped form, usually interpreted as a mouth covering or a stopper over an opening. Some scholars see it as the pictograph of a lid covering a vessel, giving the sense of 'containing' or 'the present moment enclosed'. The etymology is contested and no single interpretation is universally accepted.

Form evolution

The oracle bone form is a rough triangle with a horizontal stroke inside. Bronze inscriptions regularise the outline into a clearer inverted-V shape with an internal mark. Seal script produces the canonical triangular cap over a short horizontal stroke, and clerical script flattened the whole into the three-stroke 今 we write today.

How the meaning evolved

从 the earliest inscriptions 今 already means 'now, the present', and this meaning has been stable ever since. It extends to 'this (current) year/day' as in 今天 (today), 今年 (this year), and 今生 (this life). The contrast 今-古 ('now' vs 'ancient') is one of the oldest temporal oppositions in Chinese thought.

Cultural note

The 古今 contrast drives a huge body of Chinese literature and historiography, from 古今图书集成 to the common idiom 古今中外 ('ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign'). Learners should note that 今 as a bound morpheme in 今天/今年 is neutral, but as a free word 今 is literary and rarely used in speech.

Mnemonic

A person under a roof now — today, present

Decomposition

今=人radical+一component

Breaking a character into its components makes it far easier to recall. Each component above links to its own detail page.

Basic info

Pinyin	jīn
Meanings	today, now
Stroke count	4 strokes
Radical	人 (#9: person)
New HSK exam	Recognise at HSK 1, write by hand at HSK 1-2
Frequency	#323 most common

Example sentences

今天天气好。
Jīntiān tiānqì hǎo.
The weather is good today.
From 今
今天天气很好。
Jīntiān tiānqì hěn hǎo.
Today the weather is very good.
From 今天 (HSK 1)
我喜欢至今。
Wǒ xǐhuan zhìjīn.
I like so far.
From 至今 (HSK 5)

Words containing 今

Word	Pinyin	Meaning	HSK
今	jīn	today, now
今天	jīntiān	today	HSK 1
如今	rújīn	nowadays	HSK 5
至今	zhìjīn	so far	HSK 5
从古到今	cónggǔdàojīn	from ancient times to now
而今	érjīn	now, at present
古今	gǔjīn	ancient and modern