Meaning & readings
king, rule, magnate
On’yomi オウ、-ノウ
Nanori おお、おおきみ、わ
Origin
This character likely represents a king or person of high status. The three horizontal lines can be read as layers of authority or hierarchy stacked upon each other, with the vertical line running through the center connecting them as a symbol of unified rule. In ancient Chinese, the shape may have pictured a person with a crown or the structure of a throne. Over time, the picture simplified into these four basic strokes, but the meaning of royal power and authority has stayed with the character ever since.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (王).
Common words
Easily confused with
These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.
Reference
- Strokes
- 4
- Kangxi radical
- 96
- Formation type
- Pictographic or simple
- Grade
- Grade 1 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #684 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+0738B