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王牌 (wáng pái) — trump card (the most powerful card in a suit or the highest card in certain card games); (figurative) one's strongest or most advantageous resource; secret weapon; ace in the hole

Definition

王牌 literally means the highest card in a deck, but in modern Chinese it is most often used figuratively to mean 'trump card / ace in the hole' — a person's or organization's strongest, decisive asset.

noun
trump card (the most powerful card in a suit or the highest card in certain card games)(figurative) one's strongest or most advantageous resourcesecret weaponace in the hole
Measure word · 张

Examples

  • 王牌，。
    Tā shǒu lǐ hái yǒu yì zhāng wáng pái, suǒ yǐ hěn yǒu xìn xīn.
    He still has a trump card in his hand, so he is very confident.
  • 王牌。
    Zhè xiàng hé xīn jì shù shì gōng sī de wáng pái.
    This core technology is the company's trump card.
  • 王牌，。
    Tā zài jué sài zhōng liàng chū le zì jǐ de wáng pái, yíng dé le bǐ sài.
    He revealed his trump card in the final and won the match.

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
牌páicard

王 means king and 牌 means card, so together they denote the trump card or ace.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
片片piàn
Sound part声符shēngfú
卑
卑bēi牌pái
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

牌 puts 片, a flat piece, beside 卑, which gives the sound.

Open 牌 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Games & Puzzles

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