王

wáng / wàng

noun #1,381

Meanings

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

Examples

HSK 2

他是我们班的学习王。

Tā shì wǒmen bān de xuéxí wáng.

He is the study champion of our class.

HSK 6

他是象棋中的王。

Tā shì xiàngqí zhōng de wáng.

He is the king in Chinese chess.

HSK 6

狮子是百兽之王。

Shīzi shì bǎi shòu zhī wáng.

The lion is the king of all beasts.

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