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王权 (wáng quán) — royal power, sovereignty, reign

Definition

王权 (wánquán) is the political and military authority held by a monarch over a kingdom — more concrete than the abstract concept of 权力 ('power'), referring specifically to a ruler's sovereignty and reign.

noun
royal powersovereigntyreign

Examples

  • ，王权。
    Zài gǔ dài, wáng quán shì huáng dì de zuì gāo quán lì.
    In ancient times, royal power was the emperor's supreme authority.
  • 王权。
    Zhè chǎng zhàn zhēng shì wèi le zhēng duó wáng quán.
    This war was fought over royal power.
  • ，王权。
    Lì shǐ shàng, wáng quán de shuāi luò wǎng wǎng bàn suí zhe guó jiā de dòng dàng.
    In history, the decline of royal power was often accompanied by national turmoil.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

王wángking
权quánpower

王 points to the king, and 权 to power, together meaning royal authority.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 王 comes from a picture of a ritual axe, an object kept near a throne and connected with royal power.

Open 王 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 權; 权 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
木木mùtree
Sound part声符shēngfú
雚
雚guàn權quán
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 權 shows 木, a tree, with 雚 giving the sound; it named a kind of tree and was used for a standard weight. The simplified 权 is a later shorthand, not the historical shape.

Open 权 →
Appears in
Government & Politics

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