| 武王伐纣 |
Wǔ wáng fá Zhòu |
King Wu of Zhou 周武王 overthrows tyrant Zhou of Shang 商纣王 |
| 武 |
Wǔ |
surname Wu |
| 武 |
wǔ |
martial / military |
| 王 |
Wáng |
surname Wang |
| 王 |
wáng |
king or monarch / best or strongest of its type / grand / great |
| 王 |
wàng |
(literary) (of a monarch) to reign over (a kingdom) |
| 伐 |
fá |
to cut down / to fell / to dispatch an expedition against / to attack / to boast / Taiwan pr. [fa1] |
| 纣 |
Zhòu |
Zhou, pejorative name given posthumously to the last king of the Shang dynasty, King Zhou of Shang 商纣王 (the name refers to a crupper 纣, the piece of horse tack most likely to be soiled by the horse) |
| 纣 |
zhòu |
crupper (harness strap running over a horse's hindquarters and under its tail) |