Learn Chinese Characters

Meaning

to go (in a direction); past; previous; towards; toward; (of a train) bound for

Chinese: 去、向或过去。

Hear the Four Tones

The same syllable “wang” becomes a different word in each tone. 往 is the 3rd 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

  • 前往qián wǎngto leave for; to proceed towards; to go to
  • 交往jiāo wǎngto associate (with); to have contact (with); to hang out (with); to date
  • 往往wǎng wǎngusually; in many cases; more often than not
  • 以往yǐ wǎngin the past; formerly
  • 往返wǎng fǎnto go back and forth; to go to and fro; to do a round trip

Example Sentence

这趟火车开往上海。Zhè tàng huǒ chē kāi wǎng Shàng hǎi.This train is heading to Shanghai.

Zhèthistàngto wade火车huǒ chētrain开往kāi wǎng(of a bus, train etc) to l上海Shàng hǎiShanghai municipality (sho

Go deeper

Where this character comes from

The step radical 彳 plus 主 (sound): to head somewhere — ‘to go (toward); toward, to (a direction); past, former, previous’ (往返, 往往, 以往).

A way to remember it

To head out (彳) — to go toward; past (以往).