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

1. king, ruler
2. royal
3. a surname, listed eighth in the Baijiaxing

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

---

Cantonese

Hanzi

王 (Jyutping wong4, wong6, Yale wong4, wong6)

---

Hakka

Hanzi

王 (POJ vông (vong⁵), Guangdong wong²; vong², vong² [Meixian], vong² [Kwangtung], Hagfa Pinyim ong2, vong2)

References

• CCDICT (Chineselanguage.org)
• Academia Sinica - Hakka-English Dictionary
• Lau, Chun-fat. Hakka Pinyin Dictionary (Chinese). Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1997 (Chinese IME supplement) ISBN 962-201-750-9.

---

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, historical hiragana わう, romaji ō)

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”)

---

Korean

Hanja

王
Eumhun:

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

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

---

Mandarin

Wikipedia ^cmn

Hanzi

王 (Pinyin wáng (wang2), Wáng (Wang2), Wade-Giles wang², Wang²)

Noun

王 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin wáng)

1. king, monarch

Adjective

王 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin wáng)

1. grand, great
2. best, strongest

Verb

王 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin wàng)

1. to reign, to rule

Proper noun

王 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin wáng)

1. a Chinese surname

See also

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

References

• "王" (in Mandarin/English), MDBG English to Chinese dictionary ( Based on CC-CEDICT ). URL accessed on 2014-02-18.

---

Middle Chinese

Han character

王 (*hiuɑng, hiuɑ̀ng)

---

Min Nan

Hanzi

王 (POJ ông (ong⁵))

Descendants

• (Hokkien dialect) Tagalog: Ong, Wong

---

Vietnamese

Han character

王 (vương, vướng)