Meaning
Wan (surname); ten thousand; a great number
Chinese: 数字一万，也泛指很多。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “wan” becomes a different word in each tone. 万 is the 4th tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 千万qiān wànten million; countless; many; one must by all means
- 万一wàn yījust in case; if by any chance; contingency
- 万分wàn fēnvery much; extremely; one ten thousandth part
- 成千上万chéng qiān shàng wànlit. by the thousands and tens of thousands (idiom); fig. untold numbers; innumerable; countless
- 千家万户qiān jiā wàn hùevery family (idiom)
More Words
Example Sentence
这座城市有几百万人。Zhè zuò chéng shì yǒu jǐ bǎi wàn rén.This city has several million people.
这Zhèthis座zuòseat城市chéng shìcity有yǒuto have几jǐsmall table百万bǎi wànmillion人rénperson。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
Simplified from 萬, which was originally a picture of a scorpion. It was borrowed for its sound to mean ‘ten thousand’ and, loosely, ‘a great many’.
A way to remember it
A borrowed sound that now counts to ten thousand.
Easy to confuse with
- 方‘Square / direction’: a similar shape, but with a dot-stroke on top.