萬

Its form consists of 艸 ("grass") on top and 禺 ("foolish") below, but the character is originally a pictograph.

In oracle bone script, 萬 depicted the shape of a scorpion and originally meant "scorpion." Later, through phonetic loan (假借/ 가차), it came to represent the concept of "ten thousand." The original meaning of "scorpion" is now taken by the character 蠆.

Thus, its numerical meaning likely developed through phonetic borrowing rather than direct pictographic symbolism.

In Old Chinese, the pronunciations of 萬 and 蠆 were originally similar. However, 蠆 gained a prefix s- (a common prefix for animal names), which altered its initial consonant and distinguished it from 萬.

Semantic development:

- the number ten thousand;

- very large quantity;

- countless;

- all; entire.

Like the English “myriad,” 萬 evolved from a specific number to a concept of abundance.

In Korean, 만 often expresses “all” or “myriad.”

만세 (萬歲) — long live!

만물 (萬物) — all things

만원 (萬元) — ten thousand won

만능 (萬能) — omnipotent

만물 (萬物) — all things (philosophical term)

萬 often symbolizes:

- vastness;

- eternity;

- totality.

The expression 萬歲 (만세 / 万歳) historically meant “ten thousand years,” symbolizing long life and imperial blessing.

As a numeral, 萬 represents 10,000 and its ordinal form. Beyond that, it also means "all," "very," "extremely," "entire," "numerous," or "long-lasting." The Korean and Chinese surname "Man" (萬) uses this character, though it's quite rare.

In traditional Chinese culture, 10,000 was seen as the largest practically observable number, so 萬 came to symbolize great magnitude or abundance, while larger units like 億 (100 million) and 兆 (trillion) were seldom used.

Related characters:

億 (억) — hundred million

千 (천) — thousand

百 (백) — hundred

A variant character (이체자) of 萬 is 万, which some believe originated as a simplified form of the Buddhist symbol 卍 (swastika) that spread into China along with Buddhism. According to this theory, the form 万 didn’t exist before the Han dynasty (when Buddhism began to spread in China), supporting the idea that it came from the stylized 卍.

万 also appears in the rare surname 万俟, pronounced Mokgi in Korean. In this case, 万 is not a simplified character, but part of the surname's unique reading. In phonetic guides:

万 is noted in the Guangyun dictionary as 莫北切 (mak + buk) and in the Jiyun as 密北切 (mil + buk).

俟 appears in Jiyun as 渠之切 (geo + ji).

People unfamiliar with Chinese characters sometimes mistakenly use 萬 instead of 滿, which means "full" or "satisfied." Even those knowledgeable in Hanja can be confused in idiomatic expressions, since some phrases that seem like they should use 滿 actually use 萬 — such as 萬無 (utterly none) and 萬全 (utmost thoroughness). These must be memorized individually, as there’s no clear rule to distinguish them.