How to Write 乑 (yín) — Meaning “crowd / stand together (ancient)”

Imagine three small stick figures lined up, each formed by a slant and a dot. Think of them as three friends standing shoulder to shoulder in a crowd, which directly links to the meaning "crowd" or "stand together."

Write 乑 from left to right: first a left-falling stroke (丿), then a dot (丶), and repeat this pair two more times for a total of six strokes. Make sure the three pairs are evenly spaced and aligned vertically, and avoid making the dots too large or uneven.

Unlike 丹 (cinnabar), which has a single dot inside a rectangular frame, 乑 consists of three separate slant-and-dot pairs. Compared to 乌 (crow), which has a hook shape and a horizontal line, 乑 has no hook and uses three repeating vertical units. The meanings are also completely different.

乑 is an ancient character rarely used in modern Chinese, but it appears in classical texts and the word 乑乑 meaning "crowded." You might encounter it in historical calligraphy or when studying ancient forms of writing about groups of people.

Common words containing 乑 include: 乑乑 (yín yín) — crowded / many; 乑部 (yín bù) — the '乑' radical; 乑字 (yín zì) — the character '乑'.