今

Mandarin · pinyin jīn

Meanings

  1. now
  2. the present time
  3. current
  4. contemporary
  5. this (day, year etc)
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Characters in this entry

今
jīn · now, today, modern era
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1 · jin1

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1character link26same-tone records
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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 9 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gam1

Cantonese word readings for 今. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

character · Etymology 1

  1. now; at present; current
  2. modern times
  3. this
  4. (literary) thus; promptly
  5. (literary) if
  6. a surname

character · Etymology 2

  1. (Southern Min, Puxian Min) now
  2. (Southern Min) then; in that case
  3. (Taiwanese Hokkien) nowadays

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

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