冠
guànguānGuàn HSK5

cap

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approved by Prismcool · Oct 3, 2023, 04:41 PM · Reviewed by Prismcool on Oct 3, 2023, 04:41 PM

Edited

Changed fields: hint

Pictograph of a person (元) wearing a hat (冃). 元 also provides the sound. The 寸 (hand) component was added later to indicate the hand holding the hat on the head.

Components

冃
冃 Iconic component
mào cap

Modern form looks like unrelated 冖.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 冃 than it was in ancient scripts.
元
元 SoundIconic component
yuán first

Depicts a person.

寸
寸 Iconic component
cùn, cun (hand), inch

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkwan[k.ʔ]ˤor cap (n.)
kwanHk.ʔˤor-s cap (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“冠，絭也。所以絭髮，弁冕之總名也。从冖，从元，元亦聲。冠有法制，从寸。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.612
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)