亡

亾
wáng
#955 most
frequent character
old variant of 亡[wang2]

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

亡 began as a picture of a knife with a mark at the tip, so it first meant the tip of a blade. Read wáng, 'leave' was borrowed for its sound; that grew to die and to forget. Read wú, 'have not' was borrowed for its sound.

Drawn as: knife with tip mark

亡 as a component in other characters

meaning1 character
盲
sound12 characters
望忙忘盲妄芒氓邙罔虻肓汒
picture1 character
忘

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Same Characters, Different Readings

亡wáng
to die, to lose, to be gone

Homophones

王wáng
king, monarch, head, chief
亡wáng
to die, to lose, to be gone

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