亡 meaning and stroke order
Death, destruction; to lose; to perish
How to write 亡, stroke by stroke
3 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
Meaning of 亡
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- to die
- to lose
- to be gone
- to flee
- deceased
- old variant of 亡[wang2]
How 亡 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. A man 人 in a coffin; see 亾.
Radical: 亠 (lid), shared by 18 characters on this site.
How to remember 亡
The etymology hint describes 亡 as a person 人 in a coffin. Picture the lid 亠 on top and the bent stroke below as the body lying inside, gone from this world.
亡 (wáng) rarely stands alone in modern speech. It mostly appears in formal compounds about death, loss, or ruin, such as 死亡 (sǐwáng), 伤亡 (shāngwáng), and 灭亡 (mièwáng). Example: 这次事故没有人员伤亡。(Zhè cì shìgù méiyǒu rényuán shāngwáng.) No one was killed or injured in this accident.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 亡 (wáng) with 忘 (wàng, to forget), which is 亡 on top of 心. The tones also differ: 亡 is second tone, 忘 is fourth.
Common words with 亡
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 死亡 | sǐwáng | to die; death | HSK 6 |
| 伤亡 | shāngwáng | casualties; injuries and deaths | HSK 6 |
| 逃亡 | táowáng | to flee; to go into exile | HSK 7-9 |
| 灭亡 | mièwáng | to be destroyed; to become extinct; to perish; to die out; to destroy; to exterminate | HSK 7-9 |
| 亡羊补牢 | wángyáng-bǔláo | lit. to mend the pen after sheep are lost (idiom); fig. to act belatedly | HSK 7-9 |
| 身亡 | shēnwáng | to die | |
| 阵亡 | zhènwáng | to die in battle | |
| 亡灵 | wánglíng | spirit of the dead; departed soul | |
| 消亡 | xiāowáng | to die out; to wither away | |
| 流亡 | liúwáng | to go into exile; to be in exile | |
| 死亡率 | sǐwánglǜ | mortality rate | |
| 亡者 | wángzhě | the deceased | |
| 存亡 | cúnwáng | to live or die; to exist or perish | |
| 亡魂 | wánghún | soul of the deceased; departed spirit |
亡 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 亡
Learning 亡 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 亡
How many strokes are in 亡?
亡 is written with 3 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 亡 mean?
亡 (wáng) means death, destruction; to lose; to perish. A common word with it is 死亡 (sǐwáng), meaning "to die; death".
How do you pronounce 亡?
亡 is pronounced wáng, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 亡?
The radical of 亡 is 亠, which carries the idea of "lid". Dictionaries list 亡 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 亡?
The traditional form of 亡 is 亾. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 亡 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 亡 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 亡 is part of the HSK 6 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard, and you are expected to write it by hand from HSK 3.
Can I use 亡 instead of 死 in everyday conversation?
Not usually. 死 (sǐ) is the normal spoken word for die, while 亡 sounds formal or literary. You will see 亡 in news reports, history, and set phrases like 身亡 (shēnwáng).
What does the idiom 亡羊补牢 mean and is it positive or negative?
It literally means mending the sheep pen after the sheep are lost. It can criticize acting too late, but it is often used hopefully to say it is still worth fixing a problem after a loss.