Meaning:

thousand；a great amount of；a great number of；

Origin:

“千”这个数目字是很难表达的，所以古人用读音相近的“人”字上面加一横（表示“一”的数目）的方法表示。

Because the number for one thousand is hard to represent by individual characters, people use “人,” which has similar pronunciation, and a “一” on top to express an amount.

Words:

   千言万语 (qiān yán wàn yǔ):tens of thousands of words

   秋千 (qiūqiān) : swing

   千克 (qiānkè) : kilogram

   千米 (qiānmǐ): kilometer

   一千 (yī qiān): one thousand

Examples:

1. 一句诚实的话胜过千言万语。

    Yī jù chéng shí de huà shèngguò qiān yán wàn yǔ

    One honest voice can be louder than a crowd of thousands.

2. 这条铁路全长1956千米。

    Zhè tiáo tiělù quán cháng 1956 qiānmǐ

    The railway is 1,956 kilometers long.