Chinese domain code number

Many have long noticed that among the inhabitants of China are very popular domains, consisting only of numbers, for which they are willing to pay a considerable amount. Recently, even five-digit names are in demand, some of which they are ready to buy for a few hundred dollars. We decided to find out the reason for this phenomenon.


According to experts, it is much easier for Chinese to remember a sequence of numbers than a combination of Latin letters or a word in English. Yes, every Chinese student at school learns the pinyin transliteration system, which transmits the sound of Chinese words in Latin: for example, the word 网络 (Internet) in Latin is transmitted as “wangluo”. However, for most Chinese, especially those who have not finished college, it is easier to use numbers.

Often numbers are used to convey homology words (i.e., sound similar). For example, the site of the popular payment system Alibaba is located on the domain 1688.com. The combination of numbers 1-6-8-8 is pronounced “yo-le-ba-ba” - quite similar. Sometimes even one number is enough: for a well-known video portal 6.cn, such a name is chosen, because the name of the number “six” sounds in Chinese like the word “broadcast”.
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You can create whole phrases from numbers. For example, "5" in Chinese is pronounced "woo." It sounds like the word "in", which means "I". “1” is pronounced “Yao”, which, when the intonation changes, will mean “I want”. Therefore, the site for job search 51job.com means "I want (to find) a job." And if you want to order food, visit the site 4008-517-517.com, because "517" sounds like the phrase "I want to eat."

Here are the basic meanings of the numbers that are used in China:

1 - I want
2 - “love”
4 - “dead”, “peace” or analogue of the verb-link is
5 - “I”
7 - “wife” or “eat” (eat)
8 - “get rich” or “not” (negative particle)
9 - “long time” or “alcohol”

There are many generally accepted combinations of numbers that correspond to frequently used phrases. For example, 5201314 means 我 爱 你 一生一世 (“I will love you forever”). 0748 means "die," and 687 means "sorry." In slang, especially in network communication, word-figures are often used, such as 250 (sounds like erbaiwu - “idiot”) or 38 (sanba - “bitch”).

Also, the Chinese have happy and unlucky numbers. They try to avoid the number 4, associated with the concept of death, and consider the lucky number 8, which is associated with wealth.

So, in 2003, one of the Chinese airlines bought the phone number 88888888 for 280 thousand dollars.