字Study Chinese Characters
王

wáng king

4 strokes

王 (wáng) is a Chinese character meaning “king”. It is written from 一 (one) and 土 (earth; soil), one above the other, and takes 4 strokes.

Build the character for “king”

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Structure

一 + 土

Top–bottom structure

  • 一 one · yī picture
  • 土 earth; soil · tǔ picture

Structure from: Unicode U+738B and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (one horizontal stroke above 土)

Memory aid

One line (一) laid across the top of the earth (土): the one who sits above the land is the king.

This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.

Stroke order

4 strokes

In real words

  • 国王guó wángking王 = wáng
  • 王子wáng zǐprince王 = wáng
  • 王妃wáng fēiqueen consort; princess consort王 = wáng
  • 龙王lóng wángDragon King — the rain-bringing dragon god of Chinese folklore王 = wáng
  • 冥王星Míng wáng xīngPluto (dwarf planet)王 = wáng
  • 王侯wáng hóuprinces and marquises; the titled nobility王 = wáng
  • 阎王yán wángKing Yama, ruler of the underworld; (fig.) a cruel, fearsome person王 = wáng
Go deeper

All readings

wáng main reading

king

king; monarch; ruler; a common Chinese surname

君主；一国的最高统治者。也是常见的姓氏。 — studyhanzi 编写

Words with this reading

  • 国王guó wángking王 = wáng
  • 王子wáng zǐprince王 = wáng
  • 王妃wáng fēiqueen consort; princess consort王 = wáng
  • 龙王lóng wángDragon King — the rain-bringing dragon god of Chinese folklore王 = wáng
  • 冥王星Míng wáng xīngPluto (dwarf planet)王 = wáng
  • 王侯wáng hóuprinces and marquises; the titled nobility王 = wáng
  • 阎王yán wángKing Yama, ruler of the underworld; (fig.) a cruel, fearsome person王 = wáng

Other characters with these parts

一 → 一七丁丈三万下与

土 → 丢先冉压去吐在地

Easy to confuse with

玉主

Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions

Questions people ask about this character

What does 王 mean?

王 (wáng) means king; monarch; ruler; a common Chinese surname.

How do you pronounce 王?

It is pronounced wáng.

What parts is 王 made of?

一 (one) and 土 (earth; soil), one above the other. The recorded source is: Unicode U+738B and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (one horizontal stroke above 土). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.

How many strokes does 王 have?

4. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.

What is the radical of 王?

王. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.

What words use 王?

Common ones are 国王 and 王子. The reading of 王 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.