About
账, recognized by its traditional form 賬, is a phono-semantic compound. The left-side semantic radical 贝 (from 貝, bèi) means cowry shell, linking the character to money and financial transactions since cowry shells were an early currency. The right-side component 长 (zhǎng; 長 in traditional script) provides the phonetic element. It originated as a specialized variant of 帐, which refers to tents or curtains where merchants historically kept records, to specifically denote financial accounts, ledgers, bills, and debts. The simplification replaced both the radical and phonetic component with their modern forms, focusing the character’s meaning on the bookkeeping of monetary and commercial transactions.
Example Sentences Hide
这是我的账户。
账单在这里。
我需要记账。
他每天算账。
因为欠账，他很难过。
公司每月清理账目。
如果你不还账，银行会追讨。
审计师仔细检查了企业的财务报表和账簿。