亡 (wáng): to die, to lose, to be gone

亡 (wáng) is a Chinese character meaning “to die.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亠 (structural). It ranks #957 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 亡 a man 人 in a coffin; see 亾. Its radical form 亠 (lid) appears in many related characters such as 京 (jīng, capital city of a country), 交 (jiāo, to hand over), 亮 (liàng, bright).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to die
  2. to lose
  3. to be gone

Etymology & Origin

亡

ideographicA man 人 in a coffin; see 亾

Components:亠structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3

Practice writing 亡 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 亡

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
死亡verbsǐ wángto die6
伤亡verb/nounshāng wángcasualties6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
逃亡verbtáo wángto flee
身亡verbshēn wángto die
灭亡verbmiè wángto be destroyed
逃亡者nountáo wáng zhěrunaway
亡灵nounwáng língspirit of the dead
阵亡verbzhèn wángto die in battle
流亡verbliú wángto go into exile
消亡verbxiāo wángto die out
死亡率nounsǐ wáng lǜmortality rate
亡命verbwáng mìngto flee
亡羊补牢phrasewáng yáng bǔ láolit. to mend the pen after sheep are lost (idiom)
生死存亡phraseshēng sǐ cún wángmatter of life and death
亡命之徒nounwáng mìng zhī túrunaway (idiom)
存亡verbcún wángto live or die
亡魂nounwáng húnsoul of the deceased
70
Total compounds
24
As first character
54
As last character
21
As middle character

亡 appears in 70 compound words: 24 as the first character, 54 as the last, and 21 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 亡 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

死sǐ
0.746216,414 co-occurrences
伤shāng
0.56617,992 co-occurrences
灭miè
0.55611,068 co-occurrences
拎līn
0.55211 co-occurrences
阵zhèn
0.55213,316 co-occurrences
凋diāo
0.5301,432 co-occurrences
逃táo
0.50122,062 co-occurrences
身shēn
0.49540,400 co-occurrences
溺nì
0.4681,634 co-occurrences
流liú
0.44423,050 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (19)

唇亡齿寒chúnwángchǐhánHSK 7+

to share a common lot; to share the same fate

phrase
父母双亡fù mǔ shuāng wángHSK 6+

to have lost both one's parents

phrase
国破家亡guópòjiāwángHSK 6+

the country perishes or is devastated and families are divided

phrase
家破人亡jiāpòrénwángHSK 6+

family befallen by disaster

phrase
精尽人亡jīngjìnrénwángHSK 6+

When a male's semen is exhausted, he dies

phrase
流亡政府liúwáng zhèngfǔHSK 6+

government in exile

noun
名存实亡míngcúnshíwángHSK 6+

to remain existing in name but no longer in reality; now nominal

phrase
人琴俱亡rén qín jù wángHSK 6+

person and lute have both vanished (idiom); death of a close friend

phrase
若有所亡ruò yǒu suǒ wángHSK 7+

see 若有所失

phrase
生死存亡shēngsǐcúnwángHSK 6+

life or death; survival or extinction; matter of life and death; critical moment

phrase
死亡人数sǐwáng rénshùHSK 6+

death toll

noun
亡国灭种wángguómièzhǒngHSK 6+

the country perishes and the ethnicity becomes extinct

phrase

Showing 12 of 19 idioms containing 亡.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这场事故造成了三人死亡,令人十分悲痛。

Zhè chǎng shìgù zàochéng le sān rén sǐwáng, lìng rén shífēn bēitòng.

This accident caused three deaths, which is very tragic.

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

弗吉尼亚州里士满发生枪击事件 两人死亡

弗 jí ní yà zhōu lǐ shì mǎn fā shēng qiāng jī shì jiàn liǎng rén sǐ wáng

Two people were killed in a shooting in Richmond, Virginia

EttodayFeb 2026

國1五楊高架「男下車墜橋亡」!家屬悲赴殯儀館 相驗追死因

國 wǔ 楊 gāo jià nán xià 車 墜 橋 wáng ! jiā 屬 bēi fù 殯 儀 館 xiāng 驗 zhuī sǐ yīn

Man Falls to Death from Wuyang Overpass on National Highway 1! Family Rushes to Funeral Home as Autopsy Investigates Cause of Death

TvbsFeb 2026

...痛要注意!日本研究:長者「蛀牙不治療」死亡風險增1.7倍

. . . tòng yāo zhù yì ! rì běn yán jiū 長 zhě 蛀 yá bù zhì 療 sǐ wáng 風 險 zēng . bèi

...Pain is a warning! Japanese Study: Elderly with Untreated Cavities Face 1.7 Times Higher Risk of Death

LtnFeb 2026

國1五楊高架小黃乘客離奇墜橋亡 檢警相驗釐清原因

國 wǔ 楊 gāo jià xiǎo 黃 chéng kè 離 qí 墜 橋 wáng 檢 jǐng xiāng 驗 釐 qīng yuán yīn

Passenger Falls to Death from Wuyang Elevated Highway in National Highway 1 Prosecutors and Police Conduct Autopsy to Determine Cause

百度新闻Feb 2026

...部队向反政府示威者开火 造成至少12人伤亡

. . . bù duì xiàng fǎn zhèng fǔ shì wēi zhě kāi huǒ zào chéng zhì shǎo rén shāng wáng

Troops opened fire on anti-government protesters, resulting in at least 12 casualties.

Tatoeba

死亡是唯一可能的解脱吗?

Sǐwáng shì wéiyī kěnéng de jiětuō ma?

Is death the only way to liberation?

Tatoeba

那件不幸的事故使他自杀身亡。

Nà jiàn bù xìng de shìgù shǐ tā zìshā shēnwáng.

The unhappy event made him put an end to himself.

Tatoeba

爱情比死亡更强大。

àiqíng bǐ sǐwáng gèng qiángdà.

Love is more powerful than death.

Tatoeba

城市居民的死亡率高于农村里的人。

Chéngshì jūmín de sǐwánglǜ gāoyú nóngcūn lǐ de rén.

City dwellers have a higher death rate than country people do.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced wáng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 亡 (wáng) mean in Chinese?
亡 (wáng) primarily means "to die." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #957 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 亡 and 赢?
亡 (wáng) and 赢 (yíng) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 亡 (lose) vs 赢 (win).
How many strokes does 亡 have?
亡 is written with 3 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 亡?
The radical associated with 亡 is 亠 (lid). This radical appears in many characters related to lid.
What are the components of 亡?
亡 is composed of: 亠 (structural). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 亡?
Common words with 亡 include: 死亡 (sǐ wáng, "to die"); 伤亡 (shāng wáng, "casualties"); 逃亡 (táo wáng, "to flee"); 身亡 (shēn wáng, "to die"); 灭亡 (miè wáng, "to be destroyed"). There are over 70 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 亡 (wáng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation wáng: 望 (full moon), 往 (to go (in a direction)), 王 (king or monarch), 网 (net), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 亡 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 亡 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 亡 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.