Han

An ancient Chinese county, viscounty, and kingdom of the Zhou dynasty and the Qin–Han interregnum

Proper noun

  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. The star Zeta Ophiuchi in traditional Chinese astronomy, named for this state
  4. A surname.
    • 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...

Origin

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

Proper noun history, human sciences

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

Origin

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

Synonyms

Hangou Han-kou

Related

Hancheng Hanjiang

Proper noun Entry 3

  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
    • 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...
    • The eclectism of political thought during the Han is reflected in Liu Hsiang's evaluation of Shang Yang. - 1977, Li Yu-ning, Shang Yang's Reforms and State Control in China, M. E. Sharpe, page xxxiii:
    • Ai quickly became renowned for provocative works, which included smashing a million-dollar Han Dynasty Urn in 1995. - 2021 November 26, Elizabeth Grenier, “Ai Weiwei on surviving captivity”, in Deutsche Welle, archived...
  2. The Chinese ethnicity, when distinguished from other peoples of the Chinese state
    • 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...
    • 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). - 2006, Sheila Hollihan-Elliot, Muslims in China, Mason Crest...
    • “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...
  3. A river in central China.
    • 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. - 1902 January 5, L. S. Wilcox, “Conditions in Hankow.; American Trade on the...
    • “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...

Origin

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.

Forms

Hàn

Synonyms

Han Chinese

Related

hanzi hanja kanji Hán tự Chinese character Chinese ideograph Chinese letter Chinese logogram Chinese radical Chinese syllable

Derived

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

Proper noun Entry 4

  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.

Related

Han-ch'eng Han River Han Solo

Proper noun Entry 5

  1. A surname from Korean.

Origin

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

Forms

Hans Hahn