wàn

ten thousand

Originally a pictograph of a scorpion. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Evolution

萬 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
萬 Bronze script Late Shang dynasty (~1100 BC)

Bronze script

Late Shang dynasty (~1100 BC)
萬 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
萬 Clerical script Jin dynasty (266-420 AD)

Clerical script

Jin dynasty (266-420 AD)
萬 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

() 

wàn

ten thousand; innumerable; a great number

() 

Wàn

surname Wan

Most common words with 萬
Freq.
Word
Meaning

ten thousand

万岁

Your Majesty

千万

ten million

万分

very much

万能

omnipotent

Component uses

Meaning component in 3 characters (0 verified)

Sound component in 1 character (1 verified)

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*C.ma[n]-s

mjonH

wàn

10,000


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 74.1310% of movies

381st most common character in movies

322nd most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

12

Simplified

Unicode

U+842C

Shuowen

“萬,蟲也。从厹,象形。”


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