王

wáng / wàng

noun HSK 4 #1,381

Meanings

1 king; monarch
2 best of its kind; champion
3 surname Wang

Examples

他是象棋中的王。

Tā shì xiàngqí zhōng de wáng.

He is the king in Chinese chess.

狮子是百兽之王。

Shīzi shì bǎi shòu zhī wáng.

The lion is the king of all beasts.

他是我们班的学习王。

Tā shì wǒmen bān de xuéxí wáng.

He is the study champion of our class.

Tips

culture

王 is the most common surname in China, shared by over 100 million people. Other top surnames: 李, 张, 刘, 陈.

usage

Polyphone: the noun reading wáng covers king, surname, and 'champion / king of'. A separate literary verb reading wàng ('to reign over') is archaic and shows up only in classical texts; modern compounds all use wáng.

Components

ideograph

王 wáng

king; ruler

Self-component. Two traditional readings of the glyph: three horizontals as heaven, humanity, and earth joined by a vertical (the king connecting the three realms); or a stylized bronze axe symbolizing royal authority. Filed under itself as Kangxi #96 — the jade radical 玉 differs only by one tiny dot. Not split into 一+土.

Stroke Order