A printing wire comprises a wire main body made of a sintered super hard alloy containing a hard alloy powder, whose major constituent is carbide powder, and a binder phase comprising at least one element selected from the group consisting of nickel and cobalt; and an alloy layer formed on the entire surface of the wire main body, which contains nickel as a major constituent and has nickel phosphide or nickel boride precipitated therein, or an alloy layer which contains cobalt as a major constituent and has cobalt phosphide or cobalt boride precipitated therein.