(wēi lián) - William (given name) in Mandarin
wēiliánTraditional: 威廉
Translation
William (given name)
Word origin
A sound transliteration of the English name William. 威 (wēi, imposing) and 廉 (lián, upright) were picked for how they sound, though translators like a flattering pair of characters when they can get one.
- Origin
- transliteration
- Root
- 威 (wēi) + 廉 (lián)
Stroke order
威
廉
Examples
。
His English name is William.
。
William is my colleague.
。
Prince William has been to this city.
。
I met William yesterday.
。
William speaks very good Chinese.
威廉 (wēi lián) is the standard Chinese rendering of William, and it is fixed: you do not get to invent your own characters for a name this well established. Prince William is 威廉王子, and every subtitle team writes it the same way.
Transliterated names are worth learning as units rather than decoding character by character. 威 and 廉 carry no meaning here; they are borrowed for their sound, the way "Beijing" carries no English sense. Trying to read 威廉 as "imposing and upright" is the beginner's mistake.
It appears this often in the frequency data because it is a subtitle corpus: British and American characters keep being addressed by name, and 威廉 is one of the names that keeps coming round.
Where this fits
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威廉: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "威廉" (William (given name)): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 49.