甲
first of the ten Heavenly Stems 十天干[shi2 tian1 gan1]; (used for an unspecified person or thing); first (in a list, as a party to a contract etc); letter "A" or roman "I" in list "A, B, C", or "I, II, III" etc; armor plating; shell or carapace; (of the fingers or toes) nail; bladed leather or metal armor (old); ranking system used in the Imperial examinations (old); civil administration unit in the baojia 保甲[bao3 jia3] system (old); ancient Chinese compass point: 75°
5 strokes
Dict coverage rank #426 U+7532
How 甲 is formed
components: 冂
? unknown part
How to remember it
first · Heisig RSH #916
田 rice field — as a component also called: first, radish
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Characters built with 甲 as their sound component
These characters all use 甲 (jiǎ) as their phonetic component — compare how they read:
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 甲 sound component | jiǎ | armor, shell; fingernails; 1st heavenly stem |
| 鸭 | yā | duck; Anas species (various) |
| 押 | yā | to arrest, to detain; to deposit, to pledge; mortgage |
| 闸 | zhá | sluice, floodgate, canal lock |
| 钾 | jiǎ | potassium |
| 匣 | xiá | case, coffer, small box |
| 岬 | jiǎ | cape; promontory, headland |
| 狎 | xiá | to be familiar with; to disrespect |
| 呷 | xiā | to swallow, to suck, to drink |
| 胛 | jiǎ | shoulder; shoulder blade |
| 柙 | xiá | a cage or pen for wild animals |
Words containing 甲
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 一甲子 | yī jiǎ zǐ | sixty years |
| 花甲之年 | huā jiǎ zhī nián | (idiom) 60 years old |
| 红马甲 | hóng mǎ jiǎ | red waistcoat; (stock market) floor trader; floor broker |
| 路人甲 | lù rén jiǎ | ordinary person A; generic person; some random person |
| 马甲线 | mǎ jiǎ xiàn | (neologism, attested by 2013) (coll.) vertical groove visible on either side of the belly … |
| 前三甲 | qián sān jiǎ | top three |
| 甲子 | jiǎ zǐ | first year of the sixty-year cycle (where each year is numbered with one of the 10 heavenl… |
| 一甲 | yī jiǎ | 1st rank or top three candidates who passed the imperial examination (i.e. 狀元|状元[zhuang4 y… |
| 甲骨文字 | jiǎ gǔ wén zì | oracle script; oracle bone character (an early form of Chinese script) |
| 马甲 | mǎ jiǎ | corset; sockpuppet (Internet slang); vest (dialect) |
| 机甲 | jī jiǎ | mecha (human-operated robots in Japanese manga) |
| 花甲 | huā jiǎ | 60 years (of age); see 花蛤[hua1 ge2] |
| 西甲 | Xī Jiǎ | La Liga, the top division of the Spanish football league system |
| 三甲 | sān jiǎ | 3rd rank of candidates who passed the imperial examination; (hospital ranking) A-grade ter… |
| 甲骨文 | jiǎ gǔ wén | oracle script; oracle bone inscriptions (an early form of Chinese script) |
| 飞行甲板 | fēi xíng jiǎ bǎn | flight deck |
| 铁甲车 | tiě jiǎ chē | armored car |
| 满城尽带黄金甲 | Mǎn chéng jìn dài huáng jīn jiǎ | Curse of the Golden Flower (2007), period drama movie by Zhang Yimou |
| 后甲板 | hòu jiǎ bǎn | afterdeck |
| 甲方 | jiǎ fāng | party A (in a contract) (cf. 乙方[yi3 fang1], party B) |