匡 (Kuāng): surname Kuang

Meanings

1 surname Kuang
2 to rectify; to correct
3 to assist
4 to estimate roughly

Characters

匡

kuāng

to rectify; to correct; surname

Examples

HSK 7-9

匡衡凿壁偷光的故事广为流传。

Kuāng Héng záo bì tōu guāng de gùshi guǎngwéi liúchuán.

The story of Kuang Heng boring a hole in the wall to steal light is widely known.

HSK 7-9

我们要匡正社会上的不良风气。

Wǒmen yào kuāngzhèng shèhuì shàng de bùliáng fēngqì.

We must rectify the unhealthy trends in society.

Tips

history

The most famous bearer of this surname is 匡衡, a Han dynasty scholar so poor he drilled a hole in his wall to read by his neighbor's candlelight. The idiom 凿壁偷光 comes from his story.

Components

radical

匚 fāng

open box; receptacle

Open-box radical surrounding from the left, the indexing component. It pictures a basket or rectangular vessel laid on its side, and frames 匡 with the container family: 匣 small box, 匠 craftsman in a workshop, 区 zone-as-enclosure. The two strokes wrap the inside content.

phonetic

王 wáng

king; jade

Inside the box sits 王, supplying the sound with a regular w- to k- shift (wáng to kuāng) typical of old Chinese. As a surname 匡 is the most common modern use; the literary meaning 'to rectify' pictures setting something straight inside its proper frame.