How to Write 翁 (wēng) — Meaning “old man or father-in-law”

Imagine an old man (公) with fluffy white feather (羽) hair, like a wise elder bird. This visual of a feathered old man helps link the components to the meaning of grandfather or old man.

Be careful with the top part 羽: it has two horizontal strokes and a small hook on the right side. A common mistake is to write the bottom 公 too large, but it should be narrower than the top to keep balance across 10 strokes.

翁 means old man or father-in-law, while 羿 is a legendary archer's name and 翅 means wing. Visually, 羿 has a row of arrows (come on top of羽), and 翅 has 支 (branch) instead of 公 below, so the bottom radical differs clearly.

翁 appears in words like 富翁 (rich man) and 渔翁 (old fisherman), often referring to older males with a certain status. In Chinese culture, it's respectful to call an elderly man 老翁, though it's less common in daily speech and used more in literature or formal writing.

Common words containing 翁 include: 富翁 (fù wēng) — millionaire; rich man; 渔翁 (yú wēng) — Old fisherman.; 老翁 (lǎo wēng) — Old man.