Meanings
- historicalSomeone who was ranked first class in the palace examination, the highest level of the Chinese imperial examination.
The system had been launched in the early Tang period, when the zhuangyuan had been first on the list of applicants submitted to the emperor.
1996, John Lust, Chinese Popular Prints, page 2911 more example
Another inscriber who not only received the jinshi degree in 1801 but was the first among the equals, or the zhuangyuan, is Gu Gao (1763-1832).
1998, Ju-hsi Chou, Art at the Close of China's Empire, page 55 - Someone who places first the in the modern gaokao college entrance examination.
Origin
- Mandarin狀元 /状元
- Englishzhuangyuan
From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 狀元 /状元 (zhuàngyuán).
More words from Mandarin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
zhuangyuan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zhuangyuan
“zhuangyuan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zhuangyuan. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “zhuangyuan,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zhuangyuan.
Source: zhuangyuan on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.