Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced qian
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced qian, including 前 qián, 千 qiān, 钱 qián, 潜 qián, 签 qiān. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
For qian, the tongue is high and forward on q; run straight into ian and hold the tone, not English letters in a row.
Initial q
Like j, but aspirated.
Final ian
Settle the final ian into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (前 qián, 千 qiān, 钱 qián, 潜 qián, 签 qiān) and lock in their tones. 14 common characters share the sound qian, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
qian turns up here with 4 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
1st tone
Taking the 1st tone here: 千, 签, 迁… (6 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 前, 钱, 潜… (4 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 浅, 遣 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 欠, 歉 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing qian inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
14 common characters in this group.