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Mythic Mandarin

状元 (zhuàng yuán): meaning and stroke order

状元 (zhuàng yuán) means top scorer in the palace examination (highest rank of the Imperial examination system).

状元

Simplified
状元
Traditional
狀元
Pinyin
zhuàng yuán

Stroke order of 状元

状

  • zhuàng (bound form) form; appearance; shape; (bound form) state; condition
  • 7 strokes
  • Traditional form: 狀

Stroke by stroke

元

  • Yuán surname Yuan; Yuan dynasty (1279–1368)
  • yuán currency unit (esp. Chinese yuan); (bound form) first; original; primary
  • 4 strokes

Stroke by stroke

Meaning of 状元

  1. zhuàng yuán Traditional 狀元
    • top scorer in the palace examination (highest rank of the Imperial examination system)
    • see 榜眼[bang3 yan3] and 探花[tan4 hua1]
    • top scorer in college entrance examination 高考[gao1 kao3]
    • (fig.) the most brilliantly talented person in the field
    • leading light

Radicals of the characters

状
Radical 犬 (Kangxi radical 94) · 7 strokes · 丬 on the left, 犬 on the right
元
Radical 儿 (Kangxi radical 10) · 4 strokes · 一 on top, 兀 below

Radicals and stroke counts: Unicode Unihan database. Structure: the shapes a character is written with (BabelStone IDS), not necessarily parts that carry meaning or sound.

状元 in our stories

Preview version — Chinese review in progress.

  • 许多年后，她的儿子考中了状元，回到塔前祭拜母亲。据说他的孝心感动了上天，雷峰塔倒了，母子终于团聚。

    xǔduō nián hòu tā de érzi kǎo zhōng le zhuàngyuan huídào tǎ qián jìbài mǔqīn jùshuō tā de xiàoxīn gǎndòng le shàngtiān Léifēng Tǎ dǎo le mǔzǐ zhōngyú tuánjù

    Many years later her son came first in the imperial examinations and returned to the pagoda to honour his mother. It is said his devotion moved Heaven: the Leifeng Pagoda fell, and mother and son were at last reunited.

    From the story The Legend of the White Snake HSK 7–9 · Level 9

Stories using 状元

Dictionary data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Stroke data: Hanzi Writer data, derived from Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License). Animation: Hanzi Writer (MIT licence). Radicals and stroke counts: Unicode Unihan (Unicode License v3).