Han

See also: han and Appendix:Variations of "han"

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /hæn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /hɑn/, enPR: hän
• Rhymes: -æn, -ɑn

Etymology 1

An early romanization of the Mandarin 漢 / 汉 (Hàn), later reinforced by Wade-Giles and pinyin. Originally a river within present-day Shaanxi and Hubei. As a Chinese dynasty, from the founder Liu Bang's short-lived realm in Sichuan and Shaanxi among China's Eighteen Kingdoms, named for the Qin Empire's Hanzhong Commandery, headquartered in a city which also became known as Hanzhong, named for its placement along the middle reaches of the river.

The usage for the Chinese ethnicity first appeared during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, claiming the Han dynasty as one of the golden ages of Chinese history.

Alternative forms

• Hàn

Proper noun

Han

1. An imperial Chinese dynasty, ruling (with interruptions) from 206 BC to AD 220, marked by the expansion of the Yellow River's Huaxia culture to the recent conquests of the Qin and a flowering of economic, literary, and scientific development
   • 1950, Lubor Hájek, Chinese Art‎^[1], Czechoslovakia: Spring Books, →OCLC, page 41:

     According to the hair-dress it is probably that of a woman. There are some 102 slight traces of polychromy on the white slip. Other heads possessing similar qualities were dug up from early Han tombs in Pao-chi district, Shensi Province.

   • 1977, Li Yu-ning, Shang Yang's Reforms and State Control in China‎^[2], M. E. Sharpe, page xxxiii:

     The eclectism of political thought during the Han is reflected in Liu Hsiang's evaluation of Shang Yang.

2. The Chinese ethnicity, when distinguished from other peoples of the Chinese state
   • 1995, Rong Ma, edited by Calvin Goldscheider, Economic Patterns, Migration, and Ethnic Relationships in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China (Population, Ethnicity, and Nation-Building)‎^[3], Westview Press, →ISBN, page 50:

     Trade was the major economic link between Tibet and other regions in China. Special economic systems (estate, serfdom) made it impossible for Han immigrants to engage in agriculture and animal husbandry in Tibet. The geographic features of the plateau (high elevation, rarefied air, mountains, etc.) limited the volume of trade and migration between Tibet and other regions.

   • 2006, Sheila Hollihan-Elliot, Muslims in China‎^[4], Mason Crest Publishers, →ISBN, page 55:

     According to the 2000 census, the Han make up 92 percent of China's population; the minority groups combine for about 8 percent (about 106 million people).

   • 2023 March 29, Han Guan Ng, Huizhong Wu, Olivia Zhang, “Former Taiwan leader Ma views Sun Yat-sen tomb in China tour”, in AP News‎^[5], archived from the original on March 28, 2023‎^[6]:

     “The people of both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to the Chinese nation, are children of Yandi and the Yellow Emperor,” he told a group of Chinese and Taiwanese reporters who had been allowed to follow him on the trip, referring to mythical emperors revered as founders of China’s dominant Han ethnicity.

3. A river in central China.
   • 1902 January 5, L. S. Wilcox, “Conditions in Hankow.; American Trade on the Pacific and the far East”, in The New York Times‎^[7], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 September 2023, ANNUAL, page 23‎^[8]:

     Hankow, China, is located 600 miles from the coast, on the north bank of the Yang-tse-Kiang River, at its junction with the Han River.

   • 2014 September 9, Stian Reklev, Kathy Chen, “Quenching Beijing's thirst may stunt regional growth”, in Michael Perry, editor, Reuters‎^[9], archived from the original on 27 May 2022, Industry, Materials and Utilities‎^[10]:

     “By transferring such a significant volume of water away from the Han River Basin, the project is depriving the area of the most basic input it will need to develop in the years and decades to come,” said Britt Crow-Miller, a research assistant professor at Portland State University. […]
     The Danjiangkou reservoir gets its water from the Han River, a tributary of the Yangtze River which feeds several major cities in central China such as Wuhan, an economic power house in Hubei province sporting a $144 billion GDP.

Synonyms

• Han Chinese (ethnicity)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• Han character
• Han dynasty
• Han ideograph
• Han letter
• Han logograph
• Han radical
• Han syllable

Related terms

• hanzi
• hanja
• kanji
• Hán tự

Translations

dynasty

• Arabic: أُسْرَة هَان f (ʔusrat hān)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 漢 / 汉 (zh) (hàn), 漢朝 / 汉朝 (zh) (hàncháo)

• Finnish: Han, Han-dynastia
• French: Dynastie Han f
• German: Han-Dynastie
• Hindi: हान राजवंश (hān rājvañś), हान (hi) (hān)
• Japanese: 漢 (ja) (かん, kan), 漢朝 (かんちょう, kanchō)
• Khmer: ហាន (km) (haan)
• Korean: 한(漢) (ko) (han), 한나라 (ko) (hannara), 한조 (ko) (hanjo)
• Polish: Han (pl), dynastia Han
• Portuguese: han (pt) m pl
• Russian: Хань (ru) f (Xanʹ), дина́стия Хань f (dinástija Xanʹ)
• Uyghur: خەن (xen)
• Vietnamese: nhà Hán, Hán triều (漢朝)

Chinese ethnicity

• Arabic: هَان (ar) m (hān), قَوْمِيَّة اَلْهَان f (qawmiyyat al-hān)
• Bouyei: Buxhas
• Bulgarian: хан (bg) m or f (han), ха́нци pl (hánci)
• Chinese:

  Dungan: ханзў (hanzw), ханжын (hanřɨn)

  Mandarin: 漢族 / 汉族 (zh) (hànzú), 漢人 / 汉人 (zh) (hànrén)

• Finnish: han-kiinalaisuus
• French: Han (fr) m
• German: Han (de), Han-Chinesen pl
• Greek: Χάνας (el) (Chánas), Χαν (el) (Chan)
• Hindi: हान चीनी (hān cīnī), हान (hi) (hān)
• Japanese: 漢民族 (かんみんぞく, kanminzoku), 漢族 (かんぞく, kanzoku)
• Khmer: ហាន (km) (haan)
• Korean: 한족(漢族) (ko) (hanjok)
• Manchu: ᠨᡳᡴᠠᠨ (nikan), ᠨᡳᡴᠠᠨᠰᠠ pl (nikansa), ᠨᡳᡴᠠᠨ
  ᡠᡴᠰᡠᡵᠠ (nikan uksura)
• Nuosu: ꉌꈲ (hxie mgat)
• Polish: Hanowie, Chińczycy Han, Han (pl)
• Portuguese: han (pt) m pl
• Russian: хань (ru) m or f (xanʹ), ха́ньцы pl (xánʹcy), кита́йцы (ru) m pl (kitájcy)
• Thai: ชนชาติฮั่น
• Uyghur: خىتاي (xitay), خەنزۇ (ug) (xenzu)
• Vietnamese: người Hán (người + 漢), Hán tộc (vi) (漢族)
• Zhuang: Bouxgun

See also

• Chinese character
• Chinese ideograph
• Chinese letter
• Chinese logogram
• Chinese radical
• Chinese syllable

Etymology 2

An early romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 韓 / 韩 (Hán), an ancient Chinese placename.

Proper noun

Han

1. An ancient Chinese county, viscounty, and kingdom of the Zhou dynasty and the Qin–Han interregnum
2. The realm of this former state under other rulers
3. (astronomy) The star Zeta Ophiuchi in traditional Chinese astronomy, named for this state
4. A surname.
   • 2020 October 14, Wang Shu-fen, Matthew Mazzetta, “Kaohsiung nixes proposal to adopt Hanyu Pinyin street signs”, in Focus Taiwan‎^[11], archived from the original on 16 October 2020, Society‎^[12]:

     In May 2019, former Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) proposed adopting the Hanyu Pinyin system for the city's street signs at an estimated cost of NT$73 million (US$2.54 million), though the plan was ultimately delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Han left office after losing a recall vote on June 6.

Etymology 3

Atonal form of the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 邗 (Hán).

Proper noun

Han

1. (history) A former city in Huai'an, Jiangsu, China
2. (history) A former state in Jiangsu, China under the Zhou dynasty
3. (history) A canal in Jiangsu, China, connecting Hancheng (now Yangzhou) on the Yangtze with Mokou (now Huai'an) on the Huai.

Synonyms

• (canal): Hangou, Han-kou

Related terms

• Hancheng, Hanjiang

Translations

former city in Jiangsu

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 邗 (zh) (Hán)

former state in Jiangsu

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 邗國 / 邗国 (Hánguó), 邗 (zh) (Hán)

canal in Jiangsu, now mostly part of the Grand Canal

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 邗溝 / 邗沟 (Hángōu)

Etymology 4

From Korean 한(韓) (han). Cognate with English Han (from Mandarin).

Alternative forms

• Hahn

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /hɑn/
• Rhymes: -ɑn

Proper noun

Han (plural Hans)

1. A surname from Korean.

Etymology 5

Proper noun

Han

1. A First Nations people of Canada and an Alaska Native Athabaskan people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group.
2. The Northern Athabaskan language spoken by the Han people, or Hän Hwëch'in, in Alaska and the Yukon.

Further reading

• ISO 639-3 code haa (SIL)
• Ethnologue entry for Han, haa ⁠

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Han is the 1,182^nd most common surname in the United States, belonging to 29,847 individuals. Han is most common among Asian/Pacific Islander (92.67%) individuals.

See also

• Han-ch'eng
• Han River
• Han Solo

 

Anagrams

• NAH, Nah., anh., nah, ahn, HNA

Plautdietsch

Noun

Han f (plural Heena)

1. hen (female chicken or fowl)

Turkish

Han ilçesi

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /han/

Proper noun

Han

1. A town and district of Eskişehir, Turkey
2. a male given name

Declension

    declension of Han

	singular	plural
nominative	Han	Hanlar
accusative	Han'ı	Hanları
dative	Han'a	Hanlara
locative	Han'da	Hanlarda
ablative	Han'dan	Hanlardan
genitive	Han'ın	Hanların

    possessive of Han

	singular	plural
benim (my)	Han'ım	Hanlarım / Han'larım
senin (your)	Han'ın	Hanların / Han'ların
onun (his/her/its)	Han'ı	Hanları / Han'ları
bizim (our)	Han'ımız	Hanlarımız / Han'larımız
sizin (your)	Han'ınız	Hanlarınız / Han'larınız
onların (their)	Han'ı / Hanları / Han'ları	Hanları / Han'ları

Derived terms

• Hanlı