ten thousand

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 万 has three strokes and represents 10,000.
• Basic usage: In quantities it is read まん; the preceding number counts units of ten thousand.
  • 三万 is 30,000.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Units of ten thousand
  • 一万 is 10,000, and 十万 is 100,000.
  • When converting into English thousands, treating one 万 as one thousand gives the wrong magnitude.
• Possible eventualities
  • 万一 is read まんいち and refers to a possible, often unlikely situation or preparation for it.
  • 万一 is a fixed expression about a possibility, not a quantity.
• A different reading
  • よろず is also a kun reading, but it does not freely replace まん in ordinary numerical quantities.