门槛

• Pinyin: mén kǎn
• Hanzi breakdown: 门 = gate, door; 槛 = 木 (wood) + 监 (supervise) — a wooden bar or railing, threshold

Meaning

Threshold; doorstep; barrier to entry; minimum requirement or qualification.

Literally the raised threshold at the bottom of a doorway. Figuratively, the minimum standard or prerequisite needed to enter a field, profession, institution, or opportunity. 门槛高 means a high barrier to entry; 门槛低 means accessible. Common in education, employment, finance, and technology contexts.

Examples

1. 这一行业的入门门槛较高，不仅需要相关专业学历，还要求至少三年以上的从业经验。 The barrier to entry in this industry is quite high: you need a relevant degree and at least three years of work experience.
2. 政府近年来持续降低中小企业注册的门槛，以激发市场活力，鼓励更多人创业。 In recent years, the government has kept lowering the threshold for small and medium-sized businesses to register, to energize the market and encourage more people to start companies.
3. 随着在线教育平台的兴起，优质课程资源的获取门槛大幅降低，更多人得以享受高质量的学习机会。 With the rise of online education platforms, the barriers to accessing high-quality courses have dropped sharply, giving more people the chance to learn at a high level.

Usage Guide

Context: employment, education, business, policy, technology

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 提高行业准入门槛有助于规范市场秩序，确保从业者具备足够的专业素养与技术能力。(Raising the barrier to entry in an industry helps to regulate market order and ensures that practitioners possess adequate professional knowledge and technical competence.)
• 这款理财产品将起购门槛从十万元降至一万元，使得更多普通投资者得以参与其中。(This financial product has lowered its minimum investment threshold from one hundred thousand yuan to ten thousand yuan, enabling a much broader range of ordinary investors to participate.)

Don't Say

• 将'门槛'单纯用于指物理上的门框底部横条而不加语境说明 — 在现代汉语中'门槛'的比喻义（准入条件、最低门限）比字面义更为常见，使用字面义时最好加上'门框底部的'加以区分 (When referring purely to the physical wooden bar at the base of a doorframe, add clarification — in modern Chinese the figurative sense of 门槛 (entry threshold/requirement) is far more common than the literal one)

Origin & History

门 (door, gate) + 槛 (railing, threshold bar). Literally the wooden bar across the bottom of a doorway that one must step over — hence a barrier or minimum threshold.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal