One dot changes everything: 王 king, 玉 jewel, 主 lord

王 (ou) is a king. Add a dot and it becomes 玉 (tama), a jewel or a ball. Move the dot to the top and it’s 主 (nushi, shu), a lord or master. Three kanji, one dot apart: it’s a neat way to learn all three at once. Historically, though, they’re three separate drawings, and the dot does a different job in each.

King: 王

The traditional explanation is a lovely one. The Shuowen Jiezi, a Chinese dictionary from around 100 CE, quotes the Han scholar Dong Zhongshu: the three lines are heaven, humanity and earth, and the king is the one who joins them, the stroke running down through the middle.

Many modern scholars read the oldest forms differently: as an axe blade, edge down. A ceremonial axe stood for military power, and so for the king.

Jewel: 玉

玉 began as a picture of jade, most often explained as several pieces, three to five of them, strung on a cord. Jade was the precious stone of ancient China, so 玉 came to mean any jewel. In Japanese, the word たま (tama) covers almost anything small and round: a ball, a bead, a drop of water, a coin.

By the late bronze inscriptions, 王 and 玉 had become nearly the same shape. At first scribes told them apart by spacing: in 王, the top two lines sat closer together. Later they added a dot, or a short slanting stroke, to 玉. So the dot was never a picture of the jewel. It was a label meaning “this one is jade, not king”.

On the left side of a kanji, jade still drops its dot and looks just like 王. The “king” in 球 (kyuu), a ball, 理 (ri), reason, and 現 (gen), present, is really jade.

Lord: 主

主 is the least certain of the three. The Shuowen explains it as a lamp, with the dot on top as its flame. Some modern scholars read the oldest forms instead as a tablet for an ancestor’s spirit, related to 示, which, squeezed into 礻, sits on the left of 神 (kami), god. Either way, “master” and “lord” are later meanings.

So the video’s one-dot story is a memory aid built on today’s shapes, not on how the kanji began. It works, though: once you’ve seen it, you won’t mix the three up again.

Two kings in shogi

The pair turns up in shogi, Japanese chess, where the two kings aren’t written the same. The higher-ranked player takes 王将 (oushou), “king general”, and the other gets 玉将 (gyokushou), “jewel general”. Both pieces move in exactly the same way.

How to use it

• この国には王様がいます。

  Kono kuni ni wa ousama ga imasu.

  This country has a king.

• お年玉をもらった！

  Otoshidama o moratta!

  I got my New Year's money!

• 目玉焼きが好きです。

  Medamayaki ga suki desu.

  I like fried eggs.

• この傘の持ち主は誰ですか。

  Kono kasa no mochinushi wa dare desu ka.

  Who does this umbrella belong to?

• 王 is read おう (ou): 王様 (ousama), king, 女王 (joou), queen, and 王子 (ouji), prince.
• 玉 is everyday Japanese for round things: 十円玉 (juuendama), a 10-yen coin, シャボン玉 (shabondama), a soap bubble, and 目玉焼き (medamayaki), a fried egg, literally a “grilled eyeball”.
• お年玉 (otoshidama) is the money children are given at New Year.
• 主 has several readings: ぬし (nushi) in 持ち主 (mochinushi), owner; しゅ (shu) in 主人 (shujin), the head of a household, or a husband; and おも (omo) in 主に (omoni), mainly.

Words with the same kanji

Remember it

The king (王) is handed a jewel to keep at his side: 玉. He wears it on his head instead, and now he’s the lord of the house: 主.

The kanji in this lesson

Tap Draw it to watch the stroke order. Numbers show where each stroke starts.

Draw it

Draw it

Draw it

Sources

• Wiktionary: 王 (glyph origin)
• Multi-function Chinese Character Database (CUHK): 玉
• Multi-function Chinese Character Database (CUHK): 主
• Multi-function Chinese Character Database (CUHK): 王
• Wikipedia: Shogi

Written by the Chirami team with the help of AI, then checked against JMdict and KANJIDIC2. How we write lessons. Spotted a mistake? Email support@brightsmilesolutions.org.