冠

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

冠 (Kangxi radical 14, 冖+7, 9 strokes, cangjie input 月一山戈 (BMUI), four-corner 3721₄, composition ⿱冖㝴)

Derived characters

• 蒄

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 130, character 23
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1580
• Dae Jaweon: page 292, character 27
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 303, character 18
• Unihan data for U+51A0

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 冠
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kŋoːn, *kŋoːns) and ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : semantic 冖 (“hat”) + phonetic 元 (OC *ŋon, “head”) + semantic 寸 (“hand”) – a hand putting a hat on the head.

Earlier forms are phono-semantic (形聲／形声, OC *kŋoːn, *kŋoːns) : semantic 冃 (“hat”) + phonetic 元 (OC *ŋon).

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(g/k)wa-n (“to put on; to wear; to clothe”). Cognate with Tibetan བགོ (bgo, “to put on; to wear; clothing”), གོས (gos, “clothes; garments; dress”), གོན (gon), གྱོན (gyon, “to put on; to wear”), སྐོན (skon, “to dress; to clothe”).

Pronunciation 2 is the exopassive derivation of pronunciation 1, literally "(make someone to) be capped" (Schuessler, 2007).

Pronunciation 1

Definitions

冠

1. hat; cap

   皇冠  ―  huángguān  ―  crown

   衣冠楚楚  ―  yīguānchǔchǔ  ―  well-groomed

   • 高祖為亭長，乃以竹皮為冠。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     高祖为亭长，乃以竹皮为冠。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

     Gāozǔ wéi tíngzhǎng, nǎi yǐ zhú pí wéi guān.

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

2. hat-shaped thing

   花冠  ―  huāguān  ―  wreath; crown

   雞冠／鸡冠  ―  jīguān  ―  cockscomb

Synonyms

Compounds

Pronunciation 2

Definitions

冠

1. (literary) to put on a hat; to wear a hat

   沐猴而冠  ―  mùhóu'érguàn  ―  a macaque wearing a hat

   • 「許子冠乎？」曰：「冠。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     「许子冠乎？」曰：「冠。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE

     “Xǔ zǐ guàn hū?” Yuē: “Guàn.”

     'Does he wear a cap?' 'He wears a cap.'

2. (historical) ceremony marking a male's coming of age at 20

   • 男子二十冠而字。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: The Book of Rites, c. 4^th – 2^nd century BCE

     Nánzǐ èrshí guàn ér zì.

     A son at twenty is capped, and receives his appellation.

3. (historical, of a male) to reach adulthood
4. to rank first; to excel; to surpass

   冠軍／冠军  ―  guànjūn  ―  champion

   • 位冠群臣，聲施後世。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     位冠群臣，声施后世。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

     Wèi guàn qúnchén, shēng yì hòushì.

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

5. (literary) to cover
6. to precede (e.g. with a title); to attach; to put on

   冠夫姓  ―  guàn fūxìng  ―  to add on one's husband's surname

7. champion; winner; victor

   奪冠／夺冠  ―  duóguàn  ―  to take first prize

8. (linguistics) Short for 冠詞／冠词 (guàncí, “article”).
9. a surname

Synonyms

• (ceremony marking a male's coming of age at 20): 元服 (yuánfú)

Compounds

References

• “冠”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A00304

Japanese

Kanji

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. crown
2. best, peerless

Readings

• Go-on: かん (kan, Jōyō)^{←くわん (kwan, historical)}
• Kan-on: かん (kan, Jōyō)^{←くわん (kwan, historical)}
• Kun: かんむり (kanmuri, 冠, Jōyō)
• Nanori: かもり (kamori); まさる (masaru)

Compounds

• 冠(かん)詞(し) (kanshi, “article”)

Derived terms

• 瓜(か)田(でん)に履(くつ)を納(い)れず、李(り)下(か)に冠(かんむり)を正(ただ)さず (kaden ni kutsu o irezu, rika ni kanmuri o tadasazu)

Etymology 1

/kaɡapuri/ → /kaɡafuri/

From Old Japanese.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

冠(かがふり) • (kagafuri) 

1. (archaic, possibly obsolete) head covering; headdress, crown
2. (by extension, archaic) order, rank

See also

• 位(い)階(かい) (ikai, “court rank”)

Etymology 2

Likely a shift from kagafuri above, ancient kagapuri. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) かぶり​ (Odaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

冠(かぶり) • (kaburi) 

1. headdress, crown
2. (theater) large attendance, full house

   Synonym: 大入り (ōiri)

3. (archaic) order, rank

Etymology 3

A shift from kaburi above. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) かむり (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

冠(かむり) • (kamuri) 

1. headdress, crown
2. distance from the tunnel's roof to the surface directly above it
3. (poetry) first (traditionally, five) morae of a haiku, etc.; specifically, the first verse or line of a poem

Etymology 4

A shift from kagafuri above, ancient kagapuri.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

冠(こうぶり) • (kōburi) ^{←かうぶり (kauburi)?}

1. headdress, crown
2. order, rank
3. Synonym of 年爵 (“an annual salary in the Heian period”)

Compounds

• 初(うい)冠(こうぶり) (uikōburi, “crowning a boy for the first time at a coming-of-age ceremony​”)

Etymology 5

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

冠

Wikipedia ^ja

The modern spelling. A shift from kōburi above, historical kauburi. Also encountered is kanburi.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) かんむり (Heiban – )
• (Tokyo) かんむ​り (Nakadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

• IPA^(key):

Noun

冠(かんむり) or 冠(かんぶり) • (kanmuri or kanburi) 

1. a crown (royal headdress)
   • 1999 November 18, “冠(かんむり)を戴(いただ)く蒼(あお)き翼(つばさ)”, in Vol.6, Konami:

     頭(あたま)の毛(け)が冠(かんむり)のように見(み)える、青(あお)白(じろ)く燃(も)えるトリ。

     Atama no ke ga kanmuri no yō ni mieru, aojiroku moeru tori.

     A bluish fiery bird whose feathers on its head resemble a crown.

2. a type of traditional cap
3. name; title; named sponsorship of a program, event, team, etc.​
4. the top radical of a kanji, such as 冖 as in 冠 itself

Compounds

Proper noun

冠(かんむり) • (Kanmuri) 

1. a female given name
2. a surname

Etymology 6

Clipping of 鶏(と)冠(さか) (tosaka). (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

冠(さか) • (saka) 

1. comb, crest (of a bird, particularly a chicken or pheasant); cockscomb

Etymology 7

From Middle Chinese 冠 (MC kwan|kwanH).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) か​ん (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

冠(かん) • (kan) ^{←くわん (kwan)?}

1. headpiece, crown

Derived terms

• 冠(かん)たる (kantaru, “best, unrivalled”)

Compounds

Adjective

冠(かん) • (kan) ^{←くわん (kwan)?†}-tari (adnominal 冠(かん)とした (kan to shita) or 冠(かん)たる (kan taru), adverbial 冠(かん)と (kan to) or 冠(かん)として (kan to shite))

1. crown; champion

References

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 冠 (MC kwan|kwanH). Recorded as Middle Korean 관 (kwan) (Yale: kwan) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

冠

Wikisource

冠 (eumhun 갓 관 (gat gwan))

1. Hanja form^? of 관 (“crown; hat”).

Compounds

References

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

Vietnamese

Han character

冠: Hán Nôm readings: quan, quán

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.