--- title: "Money in Chinese: Yuan, Kuai and Mao, Prices and Paying, With Pinyin and Sound" description: "47 money words in Chinese, from 钱, 人民币, 元 and 块 to paying by 扫码, prices, bargaining and the bank, each with pinyin, its meaning and sound." canonical: "https://mandarinthewild.com/money-in-chinese" author: "Mandarin The Wild" --- Free · 47 words # Money in Chinese [Print as flashcards](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-flashcards?level=mine&words=%E9%92%B1%20%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%91%E5%B8%81%20%E5%85%83%20%E5%9D%97%20%E8%A7%92%20%E6%AF%9B%20%E7%8E%B0%E9%87%91%20%E9%9B%B6%E9%92%B1%20%E7%A1%AC%E5%B8%81%20%E7%BA%B8%E5%B8%81%20%E4%BB%98%E9%92%B1%20%E4%B9%B0%E5%8D%95%20%E6%89%BE%E9%92%B1%20%E6%89%AB%E7%A0%81%20%E6%94%AF%E4%BB%98%E5%AE%9D%20%E5%BE%AE%E4%BF%A1%E6%94%AF%E4%BB%98%20%E5%88%B7%E5%8D%A1%20%E4%BF%A1%E7%94%A8%E5%8D%A1%20%E9%93%B6%E8%A1%8C%E5%8D%A1%20%E5%8F%91%E7%A5%A8%20%E4%BB%B7%E6%A0%BC%20%E4%BB%B7%E9%92%B1%20%E4%BE%BF%E5%AE%9C%20%E8%B4%B5%20%E6%89%93%E6%8A%98%20%E7%A0%8D%E4%BB%B7%20%E5%85%8D%E8%B4%B9%20%E5%B0%8F%E8%B4%B9%20%E9%93%B6%E8%A1%8C%20%E5%8F%96%E9%92%B1%20%E5%AD%98%E9%92%B1%20%E6%8D%A2%E9%92%B1%20%E6%B1%87%E7%8E%87%20%E8%BD%AC%E8%B4%A6%20%E4%BD%99%E9%A2%9D%20%E7%BE%8E%E5%85%83%20%E6%AC%A7%E5%85%83%20%E8%8B%B1%E9%95%91%20%E6%97%A5%E5%85%83%20%E6%B8%AF%E5%B8%81%20%E8%B5%9A%E9%92%B1%20%E8%8A%B1%E9%92%B1%20%E7%9C%81%E9%92%B1%20%E5%80%9F%E9%92%B1%20%E5%B7%A5%E8%B5%84%20%E7%BA%A2%E5%8C%85%20%E5%8E%8B%E5%B2%81%E9%92%B1) Speed ## Money and the yuan qián钱 money rén人mín民bì币 renminbi; RMB (Chinese currency) yuán元 yuan (unit of Chinese money) kuài块 classifier for money: yuan jiǎo角 jiao (one tenth of a yuan) máo毛 mao (one tenth of a yuan) xiàn现jīn金 cash líng零qián钱 small change; coins yìng硬bì币 coin zhǐ纸bì币 paper money; banknote ## Paying fù付qián钱 to pay mǎi买dān单 to pay the bill zhǎo找qián钱 to give change sǎo扫mǎ码 to scan a code (QR or bar code) zhī支fù付bǎo宝 Alipay wēi微xìn信zhī支fù付 WeChat Pay (payment service) shuā刷kǎ卡 to swipe a card; to pay by card xìn信yòng用kǎ卡 credit card yín银háng行kǎ卡 bank card fā发piào票 invoice; receipt ## Prices and bargaining jià价gé格 price jià价qián钱 price pián便yi宜 cheap; inexpensive guì贵 expensive; costly dǎ打zhé折 to give a discount; to be on sale kǎn砍jià价 to bargain; to haggle miǎn免fèi费 free (of charge) xiǎo小fèi费 tip; gratuity ## At the bank yín银háng行 bank qǔ取qián钱 to withdraw money cún存qián钱 to save money; to deposit money huàn换qián钱 to change money; to exchange currency huì汇lǜ率 exchange rate zhuǎn转zhàng账 to transfer money (between accounts); bank transfer yú余é额 balance (of an account) měi美yuán元 US dollar ōu欧yuán元 euro (currency) yīng英bàng镑 pound sterling rì日yuán元 Japanese yen gǎng港bì币 Hong Kong dollar ## Earning and spending zhuàn赚qián钱 to make money; to earn money huā花qián钱 to spend money shěng省qián钱 to save money; economical jiè借qián钱 to borrow money gōng工zī资 wages; salary hóng红bāo包 red envelope (gift of money) yā压suì岁qián钱 money given to children at Chinese New Year ## How do you say money in Chinese? 钱 (qián, money). China’s currency is 人民币 (rénmínbì, renminbi), “the people’s money”, or RMB, and its unit is the 元 (yuán, yuan). ## Is it yuan or kuai? Both. Prices are written in 元, and people say 块 (kuài): ¥2.50 is 两块五 (liǎng kuài wǔ), with the last unit dropped. A tenth of a yuan is written 角 (jiǎo, jiao) and said 毛 (máo, mao). ## How do you ask how much something is? Say 多少钱？(duōshao qián?). To bargain, 太贵了 (tài guì le) is too expensive, and 便宜一点吧 (piányi yìdiǎn ba) asks for it a little cheaper. ## How do people pay in China? Mostly by 扫码 (sǎomǎ, to scan a code) with 微信支付 (wēixìnzhīfù, WeChat Pay) or 支付宝 (zhīfùbǎo, Alipay); cash, 现金 (xiànjīn), still works. ## Can’t hear it? Play uses your device’s Mandarin voice. Edge, Chrome and Safari have one; a browser with none plays each character in our recorded voice instead. ## More on money and shopping - [Chinese number converter, with money](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-numbers) - [Read: how to count money (块 and 毛)](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/how-to-count-money-in-chinese-kuai-and-mao) - [Shopping phrases in Chinese](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-phrases/shopping) - [Business words in Chinese](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-vocabulary/business) Words, pinyin and meanings from our own dictionary.