Chinese numerals.

Worked example

Take 10,050,026. Grouped by 万 (ten thousand) it is 1005 | 0026: 一千零五万零二十六. The 零 appears wherever a place is skipped before the last digit, here between 五万 and 二十六. In formal characters the same number is 壹仟零伍万零贰拾陆. A year is read digit by digit: 2001 is 二零零一.

How it works

Chinese numerals count in groups of four digits (万 is 10,000 and 亿 is 10⁸), and within a group use 十 (10), 百 (100) and 千 (1,000). The characters 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 are the standard digits; 零 is zero. Traditional text writes 萬 and 億 where simplified writes 万 and 亿.

Interior zeros before the final digit are written with 零 (205 is 二百零五; 10,001 is 一万零一). A run of zeros collapses to a single 零, and trailing zeros are dropped. 10 to 19 start with 十 rather than 一十 when they lead the number (14 is 十四), but 一十 is kept inside a number (110 is 一百一十).

The formal (daxie) characters 壹 贰/貳 叁/參 肆 伍 陆/陸 柒 捌 玖 拾 佰 仟 are used in financial documents because they are harder to alter. For formal output this tool always writes the leading digit (壹拾 for 10), which is a convention of this tool, not a rule from the source.

两 / 兩 can replace 二 before a classifier and in 200 and above; both 二百 and 兩百 are acceptable, and practice varies by dialect, so this is an option rather than a default. Numbers above 999,999,999,999 are not supported because 兆 means different things in different regions (10¹² in many places, 10⁶ in some mainland usage).

Sources and basis (opened 2026-10-15): Chinese numerals - Wikipedia (standard and financial characters, 零 placement, 十 versus 一十, 二 versus 两/兩, 兆 ambiguity and digit-by-digit reading of years).

FAQ

How do you write 100 in Chinese?

一百 in standard characters, or 壹佰 in the formal financial characters.

What are the Chinese capital (financial) numbers?

The daxie characters 壹 贰 叁 肆 伍 陆 柒 捌 玖 拾 佰 仟 (traditional forms 貳 參 陸 萬 億), used in financial contexts such as cheques because the everyday characters are simple enough to be altered with a few strokes.

When is 零 used?

Where interior places are zero before the final digit: 205 is 二百零五 and 10,001 is 一万零一. Several zeros in a row take just one 零.

Is it 二 or 两?

Both can be correct. 两 is used before classifiers, and for 200 and above both 二百 and 兩百 are acceptable. Usage varies by dialect.

How do you write a year in Chinese?

Years are read digit by digit: 2001 is 二零零一. Use the digit-by-digit reading for years, phone numbers and codes.