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国王 (guó wáng) — king

Definition

The person (the king himself) — paired with 王国, the realm/kingdom he rules. Use 国王 for the ruler, 王国 for the country.

noun
king
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 国王。
    Zhè ge guó jiā de guó wáng hěn yǒu míng.
    This country's king is very famous.
  • 国王。
    Tā kàn le yí gè guān yú guó wáng de diàn yǐng.
    She watched a movie about a king.
  • 国王。
    Gǔ dài guó wáng zhù zài hěn dà de fáng zi lǐ.
    Ancient kings lived in very big houses.

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.

国guócountry
王wángking

The characters for country and king combine to mean a king of a country.

Characters in this word

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 國; 国 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
囗囗wéiclosure
Sound part声符shēngfú
或
或huò國guó
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 國 uses 囗 to show closure and 或 to give the sound.

Open 国 →

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 →
Appears in
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