HSK 6 · Time

往事 wǎngshì “the past” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 往事 means

  1. the past
  2. past events
  3. former happenings

How to say 往事

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale往wǎng3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale事shì4th tone, falling

往事 in a sentence

  1. 照片使我忆起了很多往事。

    Zhàopiàn shǐ wǒ yìqǐ le hěn duō wǎngshì.

    The photo brought back a lot of memories.

    Sentence #358991 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 往事 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 往 (wǎng) drawn as one shape
往wǎngto go

往 is a single shape of 8 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

The character 事 (shì) with each of its parts in a different colour
事shìmatter
  • 一one · yī
  • 口mouth · kǒu
  • 彐snout · jì
  • 亅hook · jué

How to write 往事

往 8 strokes · 事 8 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

往事 (wǎngshì) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 往事 (wǎngshì). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 往事

Words with 往

往wǎng · to go (in a direction)往往wǎngwǎng · usually交往jiāowǎng · to associate with往返wǎngfǎn · to go back and forth往常wǎngcháng · usually (in the past)以往yǐwǎng · in the past向往xiàngwǎng · to yearn for礼尚往来lǐshàngwǎnglái · courtesy calls for reciprocity一如既往yìrújìwǎng · as always

Words with 事

事shì · matter没事méishì · it’s nothing事情shìqing · matter同事tóngshì · colleague故事gùshi · story从事cóngshì · to engage in人事rénshì · personnel军事jūnshì · military affairs事实shìshí · fact事物shìwù · thing

More words: Time & Sequence

瞬间shùnjiān · instant随即suíjí · immediately岁月suìyuè · years往常wǎngcháng · usually (in the past)为期wéiqī · to last for (a period)向来xiànglái · always先前xiānqián · before昔日xīrì · former days

FAQs

往事 (wǎngshì) means “the past” or “past events”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it wǎngshì: wǎng with a 3rd tone, then shì with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 往事 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type wangshi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 往事 from the suggestions. Typing wangshi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
往事 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.