枉 (wǎng): to twist, crooked, unjust
枉 (wǎng) is a Chinese character meaning “to twist.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (semantic) and 王 (phonetic). It ranks #2701 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 枉 wood. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).
Definitions
- to twist
- crooked
- unjust
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 枉 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 冤枉verb | yuān wang | to accuse wrongly |
| 矫枉过正phrase | jiǎo wǎng guò zhèng | to overcorrect (idiom) |
| 贪赃枉法phrase | tān zāng wǎng fǎ | corruption and abuse of the law (idiom) |
| 枉然adjective | wǎng rán | in vain |
| 徇私枉法phrase | xùn sī wǎng fǎ | to bend the law in order to favor one's relatives or associates (idiom) |
| 有仇不报非君子，有冤不伸枉为人 | yǒu chóu bù bào fēi jūn zǐ , yǒu yuān bù shēn wǎng wéi rén | one who doesn't avenge an injustice is not a gentleman, one who doesn't redress a wrong is not a man (idiom) |
| 徇情枉法 | xùn qíng wǎng fǎ | see 徇私枉法 |
| 不枉adverb | bù wǎng | not in vain |
| 枉法verb | wǎng fǎ | to circumvent the law |
| 矫枉过直 | jiǎo wǎng guò zhí | see 矯枉過正|矫枉过正 |
| 枉死verb | wǎng sǐ | to die in tragic circumstances |
| 枉费verb | wǎng fèi | to waste (one's breath, one's energy etc) |
| 枉顾 | wǎng gù | to neglect |
| 枉劳 | wǎng láo | to work in vain |
| 冤枉路noun | yuān wang lù | pointless trip |
枉 appears in 18 compound words: 44 as the first character, 11 as the last, and 44 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 枉 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (5)
Example Sentences
春天来了，院子里的枉木开始发芽抽枝。
chūn tiān lái le , yuàn zǐ lǐ de wǎng mù kāi shǐ fā yá chōu zhī .
Spring has arrived, and the wisteria in the courtyard has begun to sprout and branch out.
核心信息就是： 各位，别再烧冤枉 token 了，我们都看不下去了！
hé xīn xìn xī jiù shì : gè wèi , bié zài shāo yuān wǎng t o k e n le , wǒ men dōu kàn bù xià qù le !
The key message is: Guys, stop burning worthless tokens—we can’t stand it anymore!
网友没冤枉小米，小米也没白营销 我们先从汽油标号这件事说起。
wǎng yǒu méi yuān wǎng xiǎo mǐ , xiǎo mǐ yě méi bái yíng xiāo wǒ men xiān cóng qì yóu biāo hào zhè jiàn shì shuō qǐ .
Netizens weren't wrong about Xiaomi, and Xiaomi didn't get anything out of the marketing. Let's start with the issue of gasoline octane ratings.
那为什么还要花冤枉钱买 CD 呢？
nà wéi shén má hái yāo huā yuān wǎng qián mǎi C D ne ?
So why waste money buying CDs?
...:这些“网红爆款”真的有用吗?看完不花冤枉钱!
. . . : zhè xiē wǎng hóng bào kuǎn zhēn de yǒu yòng ma ? kàn wán bù huā yuān wǎng qián !
...: Do These "Viral Hits" Actually Work? Read This to Avoid Wasting Your Money!
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 枉 (wǎng) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 枉 and 狂?
How many strokes does 枉 have?
What is the radical of 枉?
What are the components of 枉?
What are common words containing 枉?
What characters sound the same as 枉 (wǎng)?
Is 枉 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 枉 with real-time feedback
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