<p>〇 is a legitimate Chinese character that you can find in dictionaries. Basically it's just a simplified form of 零, or the character version of 0, with some differences:</p>
<ul>
<li>〇 doesn't have other meanings of 零 besides &quot;zero&quot;</li>
<li>〇 can also serve as a placeholder for an unknown character</li>
<li>According to 《GB/T 15835-2011 General rules for writing numerals in public texts》, 零 is for measuring while 〇 is for numbering. So TECHNICALLY they are not interchangeable.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/XYp7m.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/XYp7m.png" alt="GB/T 15835-2011" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/vriTE.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/vriTE.png" alt="GB/T 15835-2011" /></a></p>
<p>The other 3 characters are easy, 二 = 2, 千 = thousand, 九 = 9, so 二千〇九 means 2009.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-09-06T04:36:59.167Z
2022-09-06T04:42:17.490Z
2022-09-06T04:42:17.490Z
Jason Swift
<p>二 -&gt; 2 （can also use 两）</p>
<p>千 -&gt; thousand</p>
<p>〇 -&gt; 0 (can also use 零)</p>
<p>九 -&gt; 9</p>
<p>to sum up, 二千〇九 -&gt; 2009</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-09-06T04:30:44.293Z
2022-09-06T04:30:44.293Z
Li Wang
<p>二千〇九. A friend won't tell me what it means. The signs could be backwards.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-09-06T00:13:23.623Z
it means 2009..
joehua
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-09-11T00:03:30.347Z
we speak and write it as 两千零九 only.
Siwei
<translation><number>
What does 二千〇九 mean?
# What does 二千〇九 mean?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-09-05)

二千〇九. A friend won't tell me what it means. The signs could be backwards.

**Tags:** translation, number

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: it means 2009..  
> **username_2**: we speak and write it as 两千零九 only.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2022-09-06. Score: 4

〇 is a legitimate Chinese character that you can find in dictionaries. Basically it's just a simplified form of 零, or the character version of 0, with some differences:

* 〇 doesn't have other meanings of 零 besides "zero"
* 〇 can also serve as a placeholder for an unknown character
* According to 《GB/T 15835-2011 General rules for writing numerals in public texts》, 零 is for measuring while 〇 is for numbering. So TECHNICALLY they are not interchangeable.

[![GB/T 15835-2011](https://i.sstatic.net/XYp7m.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/XYp7m.png)

[![GB/T 15835-2011](https://i.sstatic.net/vriTE.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/vriTE.png)

The other 3 characters are easy, 二 = 2, 千 = thousand, 九 = 9, so 二千〇九 means 2009.


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### Answer by username_4 on 2022-09-06. Score: 2

二 -> 2 （can also use 两）

千 -> thousand

〇 -> 0 (can also use 零)

九 -> 9

to sum up, 二千〇九 -> 2009


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