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万众 (wàn zhòng) — the masses; the multitude

Definition

Literary 'the masses, everyone' (ten thousand people / 万 + 众). Almost always appears in set phrases like 万众一心 and 万众瞩目; not used in everyday speech.

noun
the massesthe multitude

Examples

  • ，。
    wàn zhòng Yì xīn, gòng tóng kàng yì.
    The masses are united in fighting the epidemic together.
  • 万众。
    Zhè ge zhèng cè dé dào le wàn zhòng de zhī chí.
    This policy has received the support of the masses.
  • 万众。
    wàn zhòng Zhǔ mù de ào yùn huì zài běi jīng jǔ xíng.
    The Olympics, which attracted the attention of the masses, were held in Beijing.

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.

万wànten thousand
众zhòngcrowd

万 as ten thousand and 众 as crowd combine to name the masses.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 萬; 万 is its simplified writing.

For 万, the form 萬 was originally a picture of a scorpion, later borrowed for its sound to write 'ten thousand'; the scorpion picture is unrelated to that number.

Open 万 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 眾; 众 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 眾 shows three people under a sun-like shape, meaning a crowd gathered under the sun; the simplified 众 is a later shorthand.

Open 众 →
Appears in
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