Chinese number converter

Q: What are the formal Chinese numerals (大写)?

壹 贰 叁 肆 伍 陆 柒 捌 玖 拾 佰 仟. They replace 一 二 三 on cheques, invoices and contracts because the everyday forms are easy to alter with one extra stroke. The converter gives this form for every number.

A wooden abacus standing upright on a scholar's desk.

By Carson 木林森 · October 2026

1,400,000,000 in Chinese

十四亿

Pinyin

shí sì yì

Formal numerals (大写)

壹拾肆亿

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The numerals

Number	Character	Pinyin	Formal
0	零	líng	零
1	一	yī	壹
2	二	èr	贰
3	三	sān	叁
4	四	sì	肆
5	五	wǔ	伍
6	六	liù	陆
7	七	qī	柒
8	八	bā	捌
9	九	jiǔ	玖
10	十	shí	拾
100	百	bǎi	佰
1,000	千	qiān	仟
10,000	万	wàn	万
100,000,000	亿	yì	亿

Three rules that cover every number

Count in fours. Read the number in groups of four digits from the right. Each group is read as thousands, hundreds, tens and ones, then takes 万 or 亿. 12,345 splits as 1 | 2345: 一万二千三百四十五.
One 零 per gap. Any run of zeros inside the number is read as a single 零. Zeros at the end are silent.
No 一 before a leading 十. 15 is 十五 and 150,000 is 十五万, but 115 is 一百一十五.

Pinyin here is the dictionary reading of each character. In speech 一 changes tone before other syllables, which is covered in the tones guide.

Frequently asked questions

How do you write large numbers in Chinese?

Chinese groups digits in fours, where English groups them in threes. The units are 万 (10,000) and 亿 (100,000,000), so 1,000,000 is 一百万, literally "one hundred ten-thousands", and 1,000,000,000 is 十亿.

When do you say 零 inside a number?

Once for each run of skipped places inside the number. 101 is 一百零一 and 1,001 is 一千零一, with a single 零 however many zeros were skipped. Zeros at the end are not read: 1,200 is 一千二百.

Is it 二 or 两?

In a written number it is 二, and this converter writes 二 throughout. In speech, 两 is usual before 千, 万 and 亿 and before a measure word, so 2,000 is often said 两千 and "two people" is always 两个人. 二十 and 十二 never change.

What are the formal Chinese numerals (大写)?

壹贰叁肆伍陆柒捌玖拾佰仟. They replace 一二三 on cheques, invoices and contracts because the everyday forms are easy to alter with one extra stroke. The converter gives this form for every number.

How do you say 10 to 19 in Chinese?

十, 十一, 十二 up to 十九, with no 一 in front. Inside a larger number the 一 comes back: 110 is 一百一十.