璜

huáng
noun #30,930

Meanings

  1. 1 semicircular jade ornament
  2. 2 half-disc jade pendant

Examples

HSK 1
Tā míngzi lǐ yǒu gè huáng zì.
His name contains the character huang.
HSK 7-9
Bówùguǎn zhǎnchū le yī jiàn Xīzhōu shíqī de yù huáng.
The museum displayed a jade huang from the Western Zhou period.

Tips

culture
A 璜 is half of a 璧 (the round jade disc). 《说文》 defines it as 'half of a bi.' It was used in royal court ritual - the 《周礼》 prescribes it as the jade for ceremonies honoring the north.

Components

radical
王 wáng
jade; king (left form)
王 on the LEFT is actually the jade radical 玉 in its compressed form (the dot of 玉 is dropped when it sits on the left). It indexes jewelry and gemstone words - 玲,珠,玛,璧 - and here marks 璜 as a piece of carved ritual jade.
phonetic
黄 huáng
yellow
黄 supplies the sound huáng exactly, same tone. It may also hint at the yellow-amber colour of ancient ceremonial jade. 璜 is a semicircular jade pendant from the Zhou ritual set, paired with the round 璧 and the tube-shaped 琮。

Stroke Order

璜 huáng