qiáng
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 (archaic) a palace woman ranking just below a consort; a court lady
  2. 2 (used in names) Qiang, as in 王嫱 Wang Qiang (Wang Zhaojun)

Examples

Wáng Qiáng jiùshì měinǚ Wáng Zhāojūn de běn míng.
Wang Qiang is the formal name of the beauty Wang Zhaojun.

Tips

history
is not used independently in modern Chinese. It named a rank of palace woman just below a consort and survives chiefly in (consorts and court ladies) and in the name , i.e. Wang Zhaojun.
register
Classical / literary only — seen in old histories and poetry such as Du Mu's , not in everyday speech.

Components

radical
woman; female
The (woman) radical on the left carries the meaning: is a title for a palace woman. Same radical as other women's-title words like consort and concubine.
phonetic
stingy; to grudge
Right side is the sound element here (the same phonetic in and ), shifting to qiáng. It carries no 'stingy' meaning — it is purely the sound tag for this court-title word.

Stroke Order

qiáng