Example sentences

xiàn现zài在jiǔ九diǎn点le了。

It's nine o'clock now.

jiǔ九yuè月kāi开xué学。

School starts in September.

The story behind the character

The earliest 九 is a bent elbow. It meant to bend, to bow. Later it was borrowed for the number nine. So 九 was once a crooked elbow.

Every number from 1 to 100, each digit tap-to-hear, plus the tone changes that trip people up.