皇

It is a phono-semantic compound, combining:

白 (“white,” providing the meaning);

王 (“king,” providing the sound).

During the Shang dynasty, its forms in oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions were slightly different: below was 王, above was a circle with a dot and three vertical strokes attached.

In oracle bone inscriptions, 王 was sometimes written tilted sideways at the lower left. Since 王 originally depicted an axe blade, some scholars interpret the circle with radiating lines as a jewel set in the axe, gleaming in the light. In bronze script, the form is said to depict a lampstand with a flame lit on top.

Originally, the character meant “to shine,” which is why its radical is 白 (“white”). Later, this meaning was borrowed to denote “ruler,” while the original sense “to shine” was taken over by 煌 (“to shine, bright”). In small seal script, 自 (“self”) was used instead of 白, forming the variant 𦤃 with 王.

It is often said that 皇 signifies a ruler higher than 王, but this is questionable. For example, on the Yu ding (禹鼎), a bronze vessel from the reign of King Xuan of Zhou, which records the suppression of a rebellion by the state of E (噩), the phrase “丕顯桓桓皇祖穆公” (“Illustrious and august royal ancestor, Duke Mu”) appears. Here 皇 refers to Duke Mu as an honored ancestor (皇祖), not as a ruler above kings.

Thus 皇 was originally used as an honorific ancestral title, not to indicate someone above a king, and certainly not as a personal name.

Before Qin Shi Huang, 王 (“king”) already meant “one who rules all under heaven,” while 帝 (“di”) referred not to a human ruler but to a god or heavenly deity.

황제 (皇帝) – Emperor

황족 (皇族) – Imperial Family / Imperial Relatives

황조황종 (皇祖皇宗) – Imperial Ancestors and Forebears

황화 (皇華) – Imperial Splendor / Imperial Glory

황통 (皇統) – Imperial Lineage / Dynastic Succession

황가 (皇家) – Imperial House / Royal Family

황국 (皇國) – Imperial Nation

황군 (皇軍) – Imperial Army (esp. Imperial Japanese Army)

황궁 (皇宮) – Imperial Palace

황성 (皇城) – Imperial City (walled palace city, e.g. Beijing)

황실 (皇室) – Imperial Household

황태후 (皇太后) – Empress Dowager (mother of the reigning emperor)

황후 (皇后) – Empress Consort (wife of the reigning emperor)

황태자 (皇太子) – Crown Prince (heir apparent to the throne)

황태녀 (皇太女) – Crown Princess (female heir apparent; historically rare)

황궁우 (皇穹宇) – Imperial Vault of Heaven (Temple of Heaven in Beijing)

교황 (敎皇) – Pope (literally “Teaching Emperor”)

태상황 (太上皇) – Retired Emperor / Grand Emperor Emeritus (title for an abdicated emperor)

천황 (天皇) – Emperor of Japan (Tennō, literally “Heavenly Sovereign”)

지황 (地皇) – Earthly Emperor (Di Huang)

인황 (人皇) – Human Emperor (Ren Huang)