How to Write 汪 (wāng) — Meaning “Vast / (sound of a dog bark)”

Picture a king (王) standing in a pool of water (氵), looking at a vast ocean that stretches forever — that is the meaning of "vast." To also remember the dog bark meaning, imagine the king's dog running up and barking "Wang! Wang!" at the water. So 汪 represents both a vast scene and a barking sound.

Write the water radical (氵) first with three dots: dot, dot, then a short upward lift on the third stroke. Then add 王: start with two horizontal lines, a vertical line through the center, and a final bottom horizontal — make sure the middle vertical is straight and the horizontal lines are evenly spaced. A common mistake is making the water radical too wide or too tall; it should sit compactly on the left side of 王.

汪 has the water radical plus 王 (king), while 㳄 has water plus 欠 (yawn) and is a very rare character meaning "saliva" or "to drool" — it is almost never used today. 氿 has water plus 九 (nine) and means a small spring or stream; it appears in some place names. Visually, 汪 can be recognized by the king component, while 氿 has the number nine inside.

汪 is most commonly used as a surname (姓汪, Wang), like the famous Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei (贝聿铭) from the Wang family. It also appears in the onomatopoeic word 汪汪 for a dog's bark or for eyes brimming with tears (泪水汪汪). The word 汪洋 (wāng yáng) describes a vast, boundless ocean and is used poetically to express great scale.

Common words containing 汪 include: 汪汪 (wāng wāng) — Barking / (eyes) brimming with tears; 汪洋 (wāng yáng) — Vast ocean / boundless; 姓汪 (xìng wāng) — Surname Wang.