王

See also: 玉 and 主

Translingual

Stroke order

Japanese stroke order

Stroke order

Etymology

Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Large seal script	Small seal script

The three horizontals strokes represent Heaven, Man and Earth. The vertical stroke is the king, the one who connect them together. Older representation of the character show a man like 大 or 天 above an horizontal stroke.

Pictogram (象形)

The character is also interpreted as a picture of an ax, a symbol of the king's power. A ceremonial axe was kept near the throne, and was used for performing rituals in ancient China.

Han character

王 (radical 96 玉+0, 4 strokes, cangjie input 一土 (MG), four-corner 1010₄)

Wikipedia

Wikipedia

References

• KangXi: page 727, character 2
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 20823
• Dae Jaweon: page 1137, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1099, character 10
• Unihan data for U+738B

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Chinese

		-
simp. and trad.		王

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): wáng, Wáng (wang², Wang²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄨㄤˊ, ㄨㄤˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): wong⁴, wong⁶
• Hakka (Pha̍k-fa-sṳ): vông
• Min Nan (POJ): ông
• Wu (WT Romanisation): hhuaan (T3)

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: wáng
    • Zhuyin: ㄨㄤˊ
    • Wade-Giles: wang²
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: wang
    • IPA ^(key): /u̯ɑŋ³⁵/
      
      
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: Wáng
    • Zhuyin: ㄨㄤˊ
    • Wade-Giles: wang²
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Wang
    • IPA ^(key): /u̯ɑŋ³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: wong⁴, wong⁶
    • Yale: wòhng, wohng
    • Cantonese Pinyin: wong⁴, wong⁶
    • IPA ^(key): /wɔːŋ²¹/, /wɔːŋ²²/
• Hakka
  • Romanisations:
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: vông
    • Hagfa Pinyim: ong2, vong2
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ông
    • Tâi-lô: ông
    • IPA (Taipei): /ɔŋ²³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /ɔŋ¹³/
• Wu
  • (Shanghainese)
    • WT Romanisation: hhuaan (T3)
    • IPA ^(key): /ɦɯɑ̃²³/

Middle Chinese pronunciation (王, reconstructed)
Character (王), Pronunciation 1/2
Initial: 云 (35) Final: 陽 Division: III			Openness: Closed Tone: Level (Ø)			Fanqie: 雨方切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/ɦʉɐŋ/	/iwaŋ/	/ɣiuaŋ/	/ɦʷiɐŋ/	/ɦuaŋ/	/ɣĭwaŋ/	/ɣiuɑŋ/
Character (王), Pronunciation 2/2
Initial: 云 (35) Final: 陽 Division: III			Openness: Closed Tone: Departing (H)			Fanqie: 于放切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/ɦʉɐŋH/	/iwaŋH/	/ɣiuaŋH/	/ɦʷiɐŋH/	/ɦuaŋH/	/ɣĭwaŋH/	/ɣiuɑŋH/

Old Chinese pronunciation (王, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character								Modern Beijing (Pinyin)								Middle Chinese								Old Chinese								English
王								wáng								‹ hjwang ›								/*ɢʷaŋ/								king
王								wàng								‹ hjwangH ›								/*ɢʷaŋ-s/								be king
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system: Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character					No.					Phonetic component					Rime group					Rime subdivision					Corresponding MC rime					Old Chinese					Notes
王					12742					王					陽					0					王					/*ɢʷaŋ/
王					12746					王					陽					0					迋					/*ɢʷaŋs/

Noun

王

1. king, monarch

   這男孩被擁立為王。 [MSC, trad.]

   这男孩被拥立为王。 [MSC, simp.]

   Zhè nánhái bèi yōng lì wèi wáng. [Pinyin]

   The boy was proclaimed king.

Adjective

王

1. grand, great
2. best, strongest, champion

   棋王  ―  qíwáng  ―  chess champion

   拳王  ―  quánwáng  ―  boxing champion

Verb

王

1. (archaic) to reign, to rule

Proper noun

王

1. A surname​. Wang, Wong (Hong Kong)

Descendants

• (Hokkien dialect) Tagalog: Ong, Wong

Compounds

• 王后 queen
• 王子 prince
• 王座 throne
• 帝王 regal
• 棋王 chess champion

References

• (Hakka) Academia Sinica - Hakka-English Dictionary
• (Hakka) Lau, Chun-fat. Hakka Pinyin Dictionary (Chinese). Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1997 (Chinese IME supplement) ISBN 962-201-750-9.
• (Mandarin) "王" (in Mandarin/English), MDBG English to Chinese dictionary ( Based on CC-CEDICT ). URL accessed on 2014-02-18.

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Japanese

Wikipedia ^ja

Kanji

王

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• Goon: おう (ō)
• Kan’on: おう (ō)
• Kun: きみ (kimi)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oː/

Etymology

/wau/ > /woː/ > /oː/. Initial /w/ vanishes as the distinction between /o, wo/ was lost.

Noun

王 (hiragana おう, romaji ō, historical hiragana わう)

1. the ruler of a nation; a king

Synonyms

• 玉
• 主

See also

• 女王 (じょおう) (joō, “queen”)
• 王女 (おうじょ) (ōjo, “princess”)
• 帝王 (ていおう) (teiō, “emperor”)
• 皇帝 (こうてい) (kōtei, “emperor”)
• 天皇 (てんのう) (tennō, “emperor of Japan”)

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Korean

Hanja

王 (wang)
Eumhun:

• Sound (hangeul): 왕 (McCune-Reischauer: wang, Yale: wang)

• Name (hangeul): 임금 (revised: imgeum, McCune-Reischauer: imgŭm, Yale: imkum)

Noun

王 (wang) (hangeul 왕)

1. Hanja form^? of 왕, “king, monarch”.

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Vietnamese

Han character

王 (vương, vướng)

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