昆

See also: 皆 and 崑

Translingual

Han character

昆 (Kangxi radical 72, 日+4, 8 strokes, cangjie input 日心心 (APP), four-corner 6071₁, composition ⿱日比)

Derived characters

• 混

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 490, character 39
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 13792
• Dae Jaweon: page 852, character 9
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1489, character 9
• Unihan data for U+6606

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Chinese

trad.		昆
simp. #		昆

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 昆
Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (昆) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
昆	*kuːn
琨	*kuːn
鯤	*kuːn
菎	*kuːn
崐	*kuːn
蜫	*kuːn
惃	*kuːn, *kuːnʔ
錕	*kuːn, *kuːnʔ
猑	*kuːn
騉	*kuːn
緄	*kuːnʔ
輥	*kuːnʔ
棍	*kuːns, *ɡuːnʔ
餛	*ɡuːn
混	*ɡuːnʔ
焜	*ɡuːnʔ
倱	*ɡuːnʔ
掍	*ɡuːnʔ
箟	*kʰrun

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 日 + 比.

Etymology 1

“elder brother”

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(g/k)əw-n (“elder brother; senior male relative”); cognate with 舅 (OC *ɡuʔ, “maternal uncle”) (Benedict, 1972; STEDT).

Alternatively, it may be related to Middle Mon ကော (kao, “elder brother”), with nominal suffix -n added (Schuessler, 2007).

“descendants; later”

Perhaps from Proto-Mon-Khmer *kuun (“child”); cognate with Min 囝 (“son; child”) (Schuessler, 2007) and with ancient Chu dialect 觀 (OC *koːn, “child; offspring”) (Ye, 2014); cf. also some rear meanings of the characters 丱 (OC *kroːns, “young child”), 鯤 (OC *kuːn, “roe; fish egg”) and 鰥 (OC *kruːn, “roe”) (ibid.). In modern Wu dialects the character 官 (OC *koːn) is used to mean "children" (ibid.).

“many; numerous”

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-kul (“twenty; all”); cognate with 群 (OC *ɡlun, “herd; all”) (Schuessler, 2007; STEDT).

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): kūn (kun¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄎㄨㄣ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): kwan¹ / gwan¹
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): khun

  (Teochew, Peng'im): kung¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: kūn
    • Zhuyin: ㄎㄨㄣ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: kun
    • Wade–Giles: kʻun¹
    • Yale: kwūn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: kuen
    • Palladius: кунь (kunʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰu̯ən⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: kwan¹ / gwan¹
    • Yale: kwān / gwān
    • Cantonese Pinyin: kwan¹ / gwan¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: kuen¹ / guen¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʷʰɐn⁵⁵/, /kʷɐn⁵⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khun
    • Tâi-lô: khun
    • Phofsit Daibuun: qwn
    • IPA (Xiamen): /kʰun⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /kʰun³³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /kʰun⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Taipei): /kʰun⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /kʰun⁴⁴/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: kung¹
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: khung
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰuŋ³³/

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• Middle Chinese: kwon

Rime
Character	昆
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	見 (28)
Final (韻)	魂 (55)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Closed
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	古渾切
Baxter	kwon
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/kuən/
Pan Wuyun	/kuon/
Shao Rongfen	/kuən/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/kwən/
Li Rong	/kuən/
Wang Li	/kuən/
Bernard Karlgren	/kuən/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	gūn
Expected Cantonese Reflex	gwan1

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[k]ˤu[n]/

  (Zhengzhang): /*kuːn/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	昆
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	kūn
Middle Chinese	‹ kwon ›
Old Chinese	/*[k]ˁu[n]/
English	elder brother
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	昆
Reading #	1/1
No.	7519
Phonetic component	昆
Rime group	文
Rime subdivision	2
Corresponding MC rime	昆
Old Chinese	/*kuːn/
Notes	金文象日下二人比肩同作， 造意同眾而省文， 如夕月異語共義轉註例

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 昆

1. ^† simultaneously
2. ^† elder brother
3. ^† descendants
4. ^† later
5. ^† many; numerous
6. ^† (deprecated template usage) Alternative form of 焜 (kūn).
7. Short for 昆明 (Kūnmíng).
8. a surname

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): hún (hun²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄏㄨㄣˊ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: hún
    • Zhuyin: ㄏㄨㄣˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: hún
    • Wade–Giles: hun²
    • Yale: hwún
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: hwen
    • Palladius: хунь (xunʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /xu̯ən³⁵/

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 昆

1. Only used in 昆侖／昆仑 (húnlún), (deprecated template usage) alternative form of 渾淪／浑沦 (húnlún).

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): hùn (hun⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄏㄨㄣˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): wan⁶

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: hùn
    • Zhuyin: ㄏㄨㄣˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: hùn
    • Wade–Giles: hun⁴
    • Yale: hwùn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: huenn
    • Palladius: хунь (xunʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /xu̯ən⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: wan⁶
    • Yale: wahn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: wan⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: wen⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /wɐn²²/

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 昆

1. ^† (deprecated template usage) Alternative form of 混 (hùn, “to unite”).
2. 54th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "unity" (𝌻)

Etymology 4

For pronunciation and definitions of 昆 – see 崑. (This character is the simplified and variant traditional form of 崑).

Notes: Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

References

• “昆”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

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Japanese

Kanji

昆

(Jōyō kanji)

1. A swarm of or an organism that swarms (e.g. bugs), an organism that forms in large groups (e.g. kombu)
2. elder brother
3. descendants, great-great-great-great grandchild

Readings

• Go-on: こん (kon, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: こん (kon, Jōyō)
• Kun: あに (ani, 昆); なかま (nakama); むれ (mure)
• Nanori: ひ (hi); ひで (hide); やす (yasu)

Compounds

Compounds

• 昆虫(こんちゅう) (konchū)
• 昆布(こんぶ) (konbu)

• 昆弟(こんてい) (kontei)
• 昆孫(こんそん) (konson)

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Korean

Hanja

昆 • (gon, hon) (hangeul 곤, 혼, revised gon, hon, McCune–Reischauer kon, hon, Yale kon, hon)

1. (맏형 곤, mat-hyeong-): the eldest brother

See also

• 鵾 (곤, gon) swan, among the largest birds
• 猑 (곤, gon) dog, the big one
• 鯤 (곤, gon) fish, the largest, legendary creature
• 混 (곤, gon) maybe, Huns or Hünen "giants"

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Vietnamese

Han character

(deprecated template usage) 昆 (con, côn, gon)

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