乾

See also: 亁, 干, and ☰

乾 U+4E7E, 乾 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4E7E ← 乽 [U+4E7D] CJK Unified Ideographs 乿 → [U+4E7F]

Translingual

Han character

乾 (Kangxi radical 5, 乙+10, 11 strokes, cangjie input 十十人弓 (JJON), four-corner 4841₇, composition ⿰龺乞)

Derived characters

• 𠼳, 墘, 𢠥, 㨴, 漧, 𨼃, 𤍯, 𭢇, 𨫬, 𫙱, 𨝌, 𨝝

Related characters

• 干 (Simplified form when used as an adjective in Chinese)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 84, character 25
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 15992
• Dae Jaweon: page 172, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 56, character 10
• Unihan data for U+4E7E

---

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 乾
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts
Small seal script s10941 s10942 Transcribed ancient scripts L32029 L32030 L32031 L32032 L07189 L07190 L07191 L07192 L07193 L07194 L07195 L07196 L07197
References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including: Shuowen Jiezi (small seal), Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions), Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

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

	Old Chinese
乾	*kaːn, *ɡran
漧	*kaːn
倝	*kaːns
榦	*kaːns
韓	*ɡaːn
鶾	*ɡaːn
翰	*ɡaːn, *ɡaːns
瀚	*ɡaːns
螒	*ɡaːns
雗	*ɡaːns
斡	*qʷaːd

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kaːn, *ɡran) : phonetic 倝 (OC *kaːns) + semantic 乙.

Etymology 1

trad.		乾
simp.		干*
alternative forms		亁 乹

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *kan (“to dry; to dry up”). Cognate with Burmese ခန်း (hkan:, “to dry up; to evaporate”).

The sense “lacking sweetness” is a semantic loan from French sec or English dry.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): gān (gan¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄍㄢ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): gon¹

• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): kôn
• Northern Min (KCR): gúing
• Eastern Min (BUC): găng
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): koaⁿ / koa / kan

  (Teochew, Peng'im): gang¹ / guan¹

• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ¹koe

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: gān
    • Zhuyin: ㄍㄢ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: gan
    • Wade–Giles: kan¹
    • Yale: gān
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: gan
    • Palladius: гань (ganʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kän⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: gon¹
    • Yale: gōn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: gon¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: gon¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kɔːn⁵⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: kôn
    • Hakka Romanization System: gon^ˊ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: gon¹
    • Sinological IPA: /kon²⁴/
• Northern Min
  • (Jian'ou)
    • Kienning Colloquial Romanized: gúing
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kuiŋ⁵⁴/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: găng
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kaŋ⁵⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: koaⁿ
    • Tâi-lô: kuann
    • Phofsit Daibuun: kvoaf
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /kuã³³/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /kuã⁴⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: koa
    • Tâi-lô: kua
    • Phofsit Daibuun: koaf
    • IPA (Xiamen): /kua⁴⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kan
    • Tâi-lô: kan
    • Phofsit Daibuun: kafn
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /kan⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /kan³³/

Note:

• koaⁿ/koa - vernacular;
• kan - literary.

• (Teochew)
  • Peng'im: gang¹ / guan¹
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: kang / kuaⁿ
  • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kaŋ³³/, /kũã³³/

Note: guan1 - “dried-up food” (e.g. 餅乾).

• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ¹koe
    • MiniDict: koe^平
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ¹koe
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /kø⁵³/

---

• Dialectal data

Variety	Location	edit 乾 (乾旱)
Mandarin	Beijing	/kan⁵⁵/
	Harbin	/kan⁴⁴/
	Tianjin	/kan²¹/
	Jinan	/kã²¹³/
	Qingdao	/kã²¹³/
	Zhengzhou	/kan²⁴/
	Xi'an	/kã²¹/
	Xining	/kã⁴⁴/
	Yinchuan	/kan⁴⁴/
	Lanzhou	/kɛ̃n³¹/
	Ürümqi	/kan⁴⁴/
	Wuhan	/kan⁵⁵/
	Chengdu	/kan⁵⁵/
	Guiyang	/kan⁵⁵/
	Kunming	/kã̠⁴⁴/
	Nanjing	/kaŋ³¹/
	Hefei	/kæ̃²¹/
Jin	Taiyuan	/kæ̃¹¹/
	Pingyao	/kɑŋ¹³/
	Hohhot	/kæ̃³¹/
Wu	Shanghai	/kø⁵³/
	Suzhou	/kø⁵⁵/
	Hangzhou	/kẽ̞³³/
	Wenzhou	/ky³³/
Hui	Shexian	/kɛ³¹/
	Tunxi	/kuə¹¹/
Xiang	Changsha	/kan³³/
	Xiangtan	/kan³³/
Gan	Nanchang	/kɵn⁴²/
Hakka	Meixian	/kon⁴⁴/
	Taoyuan	/kon²⁴/
Cantonese	Guangzhou	/kɔn⁵³/
	Nanning	/kɔn⁵⁵/
	Hong Kong	/kɔn⁵⁵/
Min	Xiamen (Hokkien)	/kan⁵⁵/
	Fuzhou (Eastern Min)	/kaŋ⁴⁴/
	Jian'ou (Northern Min)	/kuiŋ⁵⁴/
	Shantou (Teochew)	/kaŋ³³/
	Haikou (Hainanese)	/kaŋ²³/

---

• Middle Chinese: kan

Rime
Character	乾
Reading #	1/2
Initial (聲)	見 (28)
Final (韻)	寒 (61)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	古寒切
Baxter	kan
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/kɑn/
Pan Wuyun	/kɑn/
Shao Rongfen	/kɑn/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/kan/
Li Rong	/kɑn/
Wang Li	/kɑn/
Bernard Karlgren	/kɑn/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	gān
Expected Cantonese Reflex	gon1

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[k]ˤar/

  (Zhengzhang): /*kaːn/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	乾
Reading #	1/2
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	gān
Middle Chinese	‹ kan ›
Old Chinese	/*[k]ˁar/
English	dry
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	乾
Reading #	1/2
No.	3698
Phonetic component	倝
Rime group	元
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	干
Old Chinese	/*kaːn/

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 乾

1. dry; moistureless; waterless; arid

   我喉嚨很乾。／我喉咙很干。  ―  Wǒ hóulóng hěn gān.  ―  My throat feels dry.

   • 自動提示補水功能可令家用電蒸爐也不會有煲乾水引發火警的危險。 [Literary Cantonese, trad.]
     自动提示补水功能可令家用电蒸炉也不会有煲干水引发火警的危险。 [Literary Cantonese, simp.]

     From: 2015, 紀曉華《水哥廚房：蒸．好生活》[1]

     zi⁶ dung⁶ tai⁴ si⁶ bou² seoi² gung¹ nang⁴ ho² ling⁶ gaa¹ jung⁶ din⁶ zing¹ lou⁴ jaa⁵ bat¹ wui⁵ jau⁵ bou¹ gon¹ seoi² jan⁵ faat³ fo² ging² dik¹ ngai⁴ him². [Jyutping]

     The ability to automatically remind people to add more water may result in electric household steamers no longer carrying the risk of triggering fire alarms when they become empty.

2. to dry; to exhaust
3. ^† to neglect; to snub
4. (colloquial) to drain one's glass; bottoms up
5. dried up; exhausted; drained
6. (of voice) dry and coarse
7. dried-up food
8. adopted; adoptive; foster
9. in vain; for nothing
10. falsely; superficially
11. not sweet; lacking sweetness

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 乾 (“dry”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		乾
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		乾
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	乾
	Taiwan	乾
	Malaysia	乾
	Singapore	乾
Jilu Mandarin	Jinan	乾
Jiaoliao Mandarin	Yantai (Muping)	乾
Central Plains Mandarin	Wanrong	乾
	Xi'an	乾
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	乾
	Wuhan	乾, 乾燥, 乾迸
	Guiyang	乾
	Guilin	乾
Jianghuai Mandarin	Nanjing	乾
	Yangzhou	乾
	Hefei	乾
Cantonese	Guangzhou	乾
	Hong Kong	乾
	Hong Kong (San Tin Weitou)	燥
	Hong Kong (Kam Tin Weitou)	燥
	Hong Kong (Ting Kok)	燥
	Hong Kong (Tung Ping Chau)	乾
	Macau	乾
	Guangzhou (Panyu)	乾
	Guangzhou (Huashan, Huadu)	乾
	Guangzhou (Conghua)	乾
	Guangzhou (Zengcheng)	乾
	Foshan	乾
	Foshan (Shatou, Nanhai)	乾
	Foshan (Shunde)	乾
	Foshan (Sanshui)	乾
	Foshan (Mingcheng, Gaoming)	乾
	Zhongshan (Shiqi)	乾
	Zhuhai (Qianshan, Xiangzhou)	乾
	Zhuhai (Shangheng, Doumen; Tanka)	乾
	Zhuhai (Doumen)	乾
	Jiangmen (Baisha)	乾
	Jiangmen (Xinhui)	乾
	Taishan	乾
	Kaiping (Chikan)	乾
	Enping (Niujiang)	乾
	Heshan (Yayao)	乾
	Dongguan	乾, 燥
	Shenzhen (Shajing, Bao'an)	乾
	Yangjiang	燥
	Singapore (Guangfu)	乾
Gan	Nanchang	乾
Hakka	Meixian	乾, 燥
	Huizhou (Huicheng Bendihua)	乾
	Dongguan (Qingxi)	燥
	Shenzhen (Shatoujiao)	燥
	Zhongshan (Nanlang Heshui)	燥
	Guangzhou (Lütian, Conghua)	燥
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	燥
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	燥
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	燥
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	燥
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	燥
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	燥
	Hong Kong	燥
Huizhou	Jixi	乾
Jin	Taiyuan	乾
Northern Min	Jian'ou	焦
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	焦, 乾
Southern Min	Xiamen	焦
	Quanzhou	焦
	Zhangzhou	焦
	Dongshan	焦
	Tainan	焦
	Penang (Hokkien)	焦
	Singapore (Hokkien)	焦
	Manila (Hokkien)	焦
	Chaozhou	焦
	Raoping	焦
	Shantou	焦
	Singapore (Teochew)	焦
	Wenchang	乾
	Qionghai	乾
	Singapore (Hainanese)	乾, 焦
Zhongshan Min	Zhongshan (Longdu, Shaxi)	乾
Wu	Shanghai	乾
	Shanghai (Chongming)	乾
	Suzhou	乾, 燥
	Danyang	乾
	Wenzhou	燥
Xiang	Changsha	乾
	Shuangfeng	乾, 燥

Etymology 2

simp. and trad.		乾
alternative forms		乹

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-ka-n (“heaven; sky; sun”). Cognate with Tibetan མཁའ (mkha'), ནམ་མཁའ (nam mkha', “sky; heaven”) and Namuyi nɛ⁵⁵ ŋkhɛ³³ mu³³ (“sky”).

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 乾

1. first of the eight trigrams (bagua) used in Taoist cosmology, represented by the symbol ☰
2. ^† (figurative) sky; heaven

   乾道  ―  qiándào  ―  ways of heaven; natural law

3. ^† (figurative) emperor; monarch
4. ^† (figurative) sun
5. ^† (figurative) northwest
6. ^† (figurative) man; male
7. a surname

---

Japanese

Kanji

乾

(Jōyō kanji)

1. northwest
2. dehydrate
3. arid
4. drought
5. imbibe
6. paradise
7. the emperor

Readings

• Go-on: かん (kan, Jōyō)、げん (gen)
• Kan-on: かん (kan, Jōyō)、けん (ken)
• Kun: かわく (kawaku, 乾く, Jōyō)、かわかす (kawakasu, 乾かす, Jōyō)、いぬい (inui, 乾)

Etymology 1

From 戌(いぬ) (inu, “10 o'clock direction”) + 亥(い) (i, “11 o'clock direction”).

Orthographic borrowing from Chinese 乾／干 (“northwest”, Etymology 2).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) いぬい [ìnúí] (Heiban – [0])
• (Tokyo) いぬい [ìnúꜜì] (Nakadaka – [2])
• IPA^(key): [inɯ̟i]

Noun

乾(いぬい) • (inui) ^{←いぬゐ (i'nwi)?}

1. (obsolete) northwest

Proper noun

乾(いぬい) or 乾(proper) • (inui or proper) ^{←いぬゐ (i'nwi)?}[[Category:Japanese
|いぬい]]

1. a surname

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
乾
かん Grade: S
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 乾 (MC kan).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [kã̠ɴ]

Affix

乾(かん) • (kan) 

1. dry

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
乾
けん Grade: S
kan'on

From Middle Chinese 乾 (MC gjen).

Affix

乾(けん) • (ken) 

1. the sky

---

Korean

Etymology 1

From Middle Chinese 乾 (MC gjen, “sky”).

Historical readings

• Recorded as Middle Korean 껀 (Yale: kken) in Dongguk Jeongun (東國正韻 / 동국정운), 1448.
• Recorded as Middle Korean 건 (ken)^訓 (Yale: ken) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [kʌ̹n]
• Phonetic hangul: [건]

Hanja

Wikisource

乾 (eumhun 하늘 건 (haneul geon))

1. hanja form^? of 건 (“sky”)

   Synonym: 天 (천 (cheon))

   Antonym: 地 (지 (ji)): earth

2. hanja form^? of 건 (“ or the first of the eight trigrams (bagua) ( or 팔괘 (八卦, palgwae, “Bagua”))”)

   Antonym: 坤 (곤 (gon))

3. hanja form^? of 건 (“king”)

Compounds

Compounds

• 건곤 (乾坤, geon'gon)
• 건괘 (乾卦, geon'gwae)
• 건도 (乾道, geondo)

Etymology 2

From a corrupted or unorthodox reading. The original reading is 간 (gan) based on Middle Chinese 乾 (MC kan, “dry”).

Historical readings

• Recorded as Middle Korean 간 (Yale: kan) in Dongguk Jeongun (東國正韻 / 동국정운), 1448.

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [kʌ̹n]
• Phonetic hangul: [건]

Hanja

乾 (eumhun 마를 건 (mareul geon))

1. (prefix) hanja form^? of 건 (“dry”)

   Antonym: 濕 (습 (seup)): wet

2. hanja form^? of 건 (“moistureless; waterless; arid”)
3. hanja form^? of 건 (“in vain; for nothing; superficially”)

Compounds

Compounds

• 건조 (乾燥, geonjo)
• 건달 (乾達, geondal)
• 건배 (乾杯, geonbae)
• 건판 (乾板, geonpan)
• 건선 (乾癬, geonseon)
• 건고 (乾枯, geon'go)
• 건어 (乾魚, geoneo)
• 건성 (乾性, geonseong)
• 건초 (乾草, geoncho)
• 건식 (乾式, geonsik)
• 건과 (乾果, geon'gwa)
• 건기 (乾期, geon'gi)
• 건목 (乾木, geonmok)
• 온건 (溫乾, on'geon)
• 건고 (乾固, geon'go)

See also

• 팔괘 (八卦, palgwae, “Bagua”)

7+0=111+000 (U+2630)*		乾	天	sky
6+1=110+001 (U+2631)		兌	澤	marsh
5+2=101+010 (U+2632)		離	火	fire
4+3=100+011 (U+2633)		震	雷	thunder
3+4=011+100 (U+2634)		巽	風	wind
2+5=010+101 (U+2635)		坎	水	water
1+6=001+110 (U+2636)		艮	山	mountain
0+7=000+111 (U+2637)		坤	地	earth

Usage notes

[*] Decimal pair = Binary pair (Codepoint). (The solid bar "—" of the Trigrams may be assigned to the binary number "1", while the split bar "--" to "0".)

References

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [2]

---

Vietnamese

Han character

乾: Hán Nôm readings: kiền, cạn, can, càn, khan, gàn

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

References

• Nom Foundation