一刻千金

Mandarin · pinyin yī kè qiān jīn

Meanings

  1. (idiom) time is gold; every minute is precious
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Characters in this entry

一
yī · one; a, an; alone
刻
kè · carve, engrave; quarter hour
千
qiān · thousand; many, numerous; very; (Cant.) a cheater, swindler
金
jīn · gold; metals in general; money; Kangxi radical 167
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–4–1–1 · yi1 ke4 qian1 jin1

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

jat1 hak1 cin1 gam1

Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

  1. (idiomatic) every minute is precious

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack