往

往 (Kangxi radical 60, 彳+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 竹人卜土 (HOYG), four-corner 2021₄, composition ⿰彳主)

• 𠉫, 𠗤, 𢛛, 𣶂, 暀, 𥆜, 𥯂, 𤷮

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 365, character 32
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 10073
• Dae Jaweon: page 685, character 23
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 817, character 6
• Unihan data for U+5F80

According to the version on bronzes, originally phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *ɢʷaŋ): semantic 止 (“foot”) + phonetic 王 (OC *ɢʷaŋ, *ɢʷaŋs), hence the original version is 㞷; see also the top component of 出 and 岁. Later 彳 was added to form phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *ɢʷaŋ): semantic 彳 (“walk”) + semantic 止 (“foot”) + phonetic 王 (OC *ɢʷaŋ, *ɢʷaŋs). Hence, the new character 𢓸 was coined.

Eventually, the right component was stylized into the unrelated 主. The footprint pointing upwards on top became a point as in the character 之.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *waŋ (“to go; to come”). Cognate with Burmese ဝင် (wang, “to come in; to enter”), Tibetan འོང ('ong, “to come”), ཡོང (yong, “to come”). Related to 于 (OC *ɢʷa, “to go”).

往

1. to go to; to head for

   往返  ―  wǎngfǎn  ―  to travel to and from

2. to; towards (a location)

   上海飛往北京的航班 [MSC, trad.]
   上海飞往北京的航班 [MSC, simp.]

   Shànghǎi fēi wǎng Běijīng de hángbān [Pinyin]

   a flight from Shanghai to Beijing

   我往右拐的。  ―  Wǒ wǎng yòu guǎi de.  ―  I turned right.

   不要往河裡扔石頭。 [MSC, trad.]
   不要往河里扔石头。 [MSC, simp.]

   Bùyào wǎng hé lǐ rēng shítóu. [Pinyin]

   Don't throw rocks into the river.

   他們往小鎮方向去了。 [MSC, trad.]
   他们往小镇方向去了。 [MSC, simp.]

   Tāmen wǎng xiǎo zhèn fāngxiàng qù le. [Pinyin]

   They made their way toward the town.

3. (Mandarin, Jin, colloquial) to; towards (a state)
   • 1936 December 16, 老舍, “駱駝祥子（七）”, in 宇宙風, number 31, page 368:

     自己掏錢吃飯，他决不會吃得這麽好，現在旣有現成的菜飯，而且吃了不會由脊梁骨下去，他爲什麽不往飽裏吃呢；飯也是錢買來的，這筆賬他算得很淸楚。 [MSC, trad.]
     自己掏钱吃饭，他决不会吃得这么好，现在既有现成的菜饭，而且吃了不会由脊梁骨下去，他为什么不往饱里吃呢；饭也是钱买来的，这笔账他算得很清楚。 [MSC, simp.]

     Zìjǐ tāoqián chīfàn, tā jué bùhuì chī dé zhème hǎo, xiànzài jì yǒu xiànchéng de càifàn, érqiě chīle bùhuì yóu jǐliánggǔ xiàqu, tā wèishénme bù wǎng bǎo lǐ chī ne; fàn yěshì qián mǎi lái de, zhè bǐ zhàng tā suàn de hěn qīngchǔ. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1989 July 18 [1989 June 30], 陈希同, “关于制止动乱和平息反革命暴乱的情况报告”, in 中华人民共和国国务院公报, number 592, page 472:

     下午5时许，非法组织“高自联”和“工自联”的头头，在天安门广场分发了菜刀、匕首、铁棍、铁链子和带尖的竹竿，声言“抓住军警就要往死里打”。 [MSC, simp.]
     下午5時許，非法組織“高自聯”和“工自聯”的頭頭，在天安門廣場分發了菜刀、匕首、鐵棍、鐵鏈子和帶尖的竹竿，聲言“抓住軍警就要往死裡打”。 [MSC, trad.]

     Xiàwǔ 5 shí xǔ, fēifǎ zǔzhī “Gāozìlián” hé “Gōngzìlián” de tóutou, zài Tiān'ānmén Guǎngchǎng fēnfāle càidāo, bǐshǒu, tiěgùn, tiěliànzi hé dài jiān de zhúgān, shēngyán “zhuāzhù jūnjǐng jiù yào wǎng sǐ lǐ dǎ”. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2025 December 24, 【陕北霞姐】葡萄大丰收，霞姐采摘回去熬成果酱，酸酸甜甜配着面包馒头都好吃! [Grapes are abundant. Aunt Xia picked them and made jam]‎^[2], spoken by 王敏:

     把葡萄颗粒摘下来往净洗一下 [Northern Shaanxi Jin, simp.]
     把葡萄顆粒摘下來往淨洗一下 [Northern Shaanxi Jin, trad.]

     Pluck off the grapes and wash them clean

4. past; previous

   往事  ―  wǎngshì  ―  past events

   往昔  ―  wǎngxī  ―  in the past

• (to; towards (a state)): In Mandarin, the state is restricted to a small set of monosyllabic adjectives/verbs and must be followed by 裡／里 (lǐ) (Lü, 1999). In Jin, it is much more productive, and 裡／里 (lǐ) is optional (Zong and Zhang, 2013).

• 向 (xiàng)

往

1. (Mandarin, Wu) towards

The written form 望 is common in Early Mandarin (Dong, 2023); in contemporary Mandarin, commonly written as 往.

往

1. (Hakka) towards
   • 2016, 彭瑞珠, “時間停跎个所在”, in 《教育部電子報》‎^[3], number 718:

     𫣆在山頂看往下——涼風輕輕仔挲等河壩面，河壩兩片田坵還係插齊个禾仔，四圍山峎還係青悠个樹林。 [Sixian Hakka, trad.]
     𫣆在山顶看往下——凉风轻轻仔挲等河坝面，河坝两片田坵还系插齐个禾仔，四围山峎还系青悠个树林。 [Sixian Hakka, simp.]

     Ên chhai sân-táng khon kông hâ — liòng-fûng khiâng-khiâng-é sô-tén hò-pa mien, hò-pa lióng phién thièn-khiû hàn-he chhap-chhè ke vò-é, si-vì sân-kien hàn-he chhiâng-yû ke su-lìm. [Pha̍k-fa-sṳ]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2019 December 13, “徙”, 陳美燕 [Mei-Yen Chen], 邱廉欽 [Kim Chiu], Uncle Willow, Regina Grounded (lyrics), 邱廉欽 [Kim Chiu] and 賴威成 [Andres Lai] (music)‎^[4]performed by 愛客樂 [iColor]:

     徙往下　過河壩　跋山崗　艱辛出外莊　再徙往出　過大江　尋一隻　有好耕種个地方 [Hailu Hakka, trad.]
     徙往下　过河坝　跋山岗　艰辛出外庄　再徙往出　过大江　寻一只　有好耕种个地方 [Hailu Hakka, simp.]

     sai´ gong` ha`, goˇ ho baˇ, bag san` gong`, gan` sin` chud ngoi⁺ zong`, zaiˇ sai´ gong` chud, goˇ tai⁺ gong`, cim rhid zhag rhiu` ho´ gang` zhungˇ gaiˇ ti⁺ fong` [Taiwanese Hakka Romanization System]

     Migrating down, crossing rivers, climbing mountains, going out of the village with difficulty; then migrating out, crossing big rivers to look for a place good for farming

It is used after a verb and before a directional term, such as 上 (“up”), 下 (“down”), 出 (“out”).

• “往”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[5], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(Fifth grade kyōiku kanji)

• Go-on: おう (ō, Jōyō)^{←わう (wau, historical)}
• Kan-on: おう (ō, Jōyō)^{←わう (wau, historical)}
• Kun: いく (iku, 往く)、いにしえ (inishie, 往)、さきに (sakini, 往に)、ゆく (yuku, 往く)
• Nanori: おき (oki)、なり (nari)、ひさ (hisa)、みち (michi)、もち (mochi)、ゆき (yuki)、よし (yoshi)

*/waŋ/ → /wau/ → /ɔː/ → /oː/

From Middle Chinese 往 (MC hjwangX).

• IPA^(key): [o̞ː]

往(おう) • (ō) ^{←わう (wau)?}

1. to go to, to head for
2. past, previous

往 (eumhun 갈 왕 (gal wang))

1. hanja form^? of 왕 (“to go to”)

往: Hán Nôm readings: vãng, vạng, vảng, vởn, váng, vãn

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

• Nom Foundation