Chinese Character Wiki
央

yāng

beg

Pictograph of a person (大) with a cangue (torture device for punishing criminals) around his neck. People wearing such devices were not able to reach their mouth with their own hands, and were forced to beg for food.

Components
◎ iconic component

◎  Iconic component

  

characterless component

Depicts a cangue (torture device for punishing criminals worn around the neck).

大 iconic component

大  Iconic component

dà, dài

  

big

Here used as a pictograph of a person

Evolution

央 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
央 Bronze script Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)

Bronze script

Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)
央 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
央 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
央 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

央  

yāng

center, conclude, run out; beg; center; end; to beg; to plead

Most common words with 央
Freq.
Word
Meaning

中央

central

央行

abbr. for various central banks, notably 中國人民銀行|中国人民银行[Zhōng​guó​Rén​mín​Yín​háng] and 中央銀行|中央银行[Zhōng​yāng​Yín​háng]

央

end

央视

China Central Television (CCTV), abbr. for 中國中央電視台|中国中央电视台[Zhōng​guó​Zhōng​yāng​Diàn​shì​tái]

党中央

party central committee

Component uses

Sound component in 10 characters (2 verified)

英 映 盎 鞅 秧 殃 鴦 鸯 怏 泱

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*ʔaŋ

'jang

yāng

end (v.)

*ʔaŋ

'jang

yāng

center (n.)


Statistics

HSK level 5

Appears in 8.3934% of movies

2008th most common character in movies

800th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

5

Unicode

U+592E

Shuowen

“央，中央也。从大在冂之內。大，人也。央、旁同意。一曰久也。”


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