BeginChinese
every character tells a story
The ancient form
Today

wáng · wong4

king

Where it comes from

Not a crown — an axe. The oracle-bone king is a great ceremonial axe planted blade-down: whoever holds the axe holds the power. Later scholars gave it a nobler reading: three horizontal lines for heaven, humanity, and earth, and the king as the single stroke joining all three.

A piece of culture

When "king" became too small
In 221 BCE, the king of Qin conquered all rival kingdoms and united China for the first time. He decided 王 was now too small a word for what he was — so he coined a brand-new title, 皇帝 (huángdì), "emperor", borrowing the glow of mythical god-kings. He called himself Qin Shi Huangdi: the First Emperor. His dynasty lasted only fifteen years, but the title — and the united country — lasted more than two thousand.

Use it in a real word

大王
dàwáng ·
great king — how subjects addressed their ruler; you know both characters
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