Chinese

Noun

天王

1. (archaic) the son of heaven; the emperor

Usage notes

This term originally gained popularity during the Spring and Autumn Period in reference to the Zhou kings. Later on, the term 天子 gradually gained more favor.

Japanese

Etymology

The ō reading for 王 changes to nō as an instance of renjō (連声).

Pronunciation

• On'yomi
• (Tokyo) てんの​う [tèńnóꜜò] (Nakadaka - [3])^[1][2]
• IPA^(key): [tẽ̞nno̞ː]
• Homophone: 天皇

Noun

天王 ‎(hiragana てんのう, romaji tennō, historical hiragana てんわう)

1. (Buddhism) heavenly king

References

1. ↑ 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
2. ↑ 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3