# 昆

| 昆 | U+6606, &#26118; CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-6606 |
| ← 昅 [U+6605] | CJK Unified Ideographs | 昇 → [U+6607] |

## Translingual
### Han character

昆 (Kangxi radical 72, 日+4, 8 strokes, cangjie input 日心心 (APP), four-corner 6071$_1$, composition ⿱日比)

#### Derived characters

* 婫, 堒, 惃, 棍, 混, 焜, 掍, 錕, 尡, 䛰, 鯤

#### 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

## Chinese
### 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 |
| | 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 |
Pictogram (象形) – the body and legs of an insect.

### 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).

#### “quetta-”

    Phono-semantic matching of English quetta-. Coined by the China National Committee for Terminology in Science and Technology and the State Administration for Market Regulation on World Metrology Day in 2023 (20 May 2023).
昆 is pronounced with aspirated initial /kʰ/ instead of the expected /k/ in the majority of modern varieties of Chinese. The /k/ sound in 昆 (MC kwon) was changed to /kʰ/ during its historical development to avoid homophony with 褌 (MC kwon, “underclothing”), a word that was historically in vernacular use (Hirayama, 2005).
This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

#### Pronunciation

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): kūn (kun$^1$)
    (Zhuyin): ㄎㄨㄣ
* Cantonese (Jyutping): kwan$^1$ / gwan$^1$
* Gan (Wiktionary): kun$^1$
* Hakka
    (Sixian, PFS): khûn
    (Meixian, Guangdong): kun$^1$
* Jin (Wiktionary): kung$^1$
* Northern Min (KCR): kó̤ng
* Eastern Min (BUC): kŏng
* Southern Min
    (Hokkien, POJ): khun
    (Teochew, Peng'im): kung$^1$
* Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): $^1$khuen
* Xiang (Changsha, Wiktionary): kun$^1$
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: kūn
*** Zhuyin: ㄎㄨㄣ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: kun
*** Wade–Giles: kʻun$^1$
*** Yale: kwūn
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: kuen
*** Palladius: кунь (kunʹ)
*** Sinological IPA : /kʰu̯ən⁵⁵/
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: kwan$^1$ / gwan$^1$
*** Yale: kwān / gwān
*** Cantonese Pinyin: kwan$^1$ / gwan$^1$
*** Guangdong Romanization: kuen$^1$ / guen$^1$
*** Sinological IPA : /kʷʰɐn⁵⁵/, /kʷɐn⁵⁵/
* gwan1 - literary;
* kwan1 - vernacular.
* 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/ |
| Bernhard Karlgren | /kuən/ |
| Expected Mandarin Reflex | gūn |
| Expected Cantonese Reflex | gwan$^1$ |
* 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

昆
* (obsolete) together
* (literary) elder brother
    From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11th – 7th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version
    Zhōng yuàn xiōngdì, wèi tārén kūn. Wèi tārén kūn, yì mò wǒ wén. [Pinyin]
    For ever separated from my brothers, I call a stranger elder-brother. I call a stranger elder-brother, But he will not listen to me.
* (literary) descendants
* (obsolete) later
* (obsolete) many; numerous
    昆蟲／昆虫 ― kūnchóng ― insect
* (obsolete) Alternative form of 焜 (kūn)
* Short for 昆明 (Kūnmíng).
    成昆鐵路／成昆铁路 ― Chéng Kūn Tiělù ― Chengdu–Kunming railway
* a surname
* (Mainland China) quetta- (SI unit prefix)
    Synonym: 奎 (kuí) (Taiwan)

##### Compounds

* 公昆弟
* 垂裕後昆 / 垂裕后昆
* 寄生昆蟲 / 寄生昆虫
* 後昆 / 后昆
* 昆仲 (kūnzhòng)
* 昆吾
* 昆士蘭 / 昆士兰 (Kūnshìlán)
* 昆夷
* 昆季
* 昆布 (kūnbù)
* 昆弟
* 昆弟之好
* 昆明 (Kūnmíng)
* 昆明池
* 昆明湖 (Kūnmíng Hú)
* 昆池劫灰
* 昆玉 (kūnyù)
* 昆蟲 / 昆虫 (kūnchóng)
* 昆蟲學 / 昆虫学 (kūnchóngxué)
* 昆蟲綱 / 昆虫纲
* 昆裔
* 昆邪
* 昆陽 / 昆阳
* 玉昆金友
* 賢昆仲 / 贤昆仲
* 賢昆玉 / 贤昆玉
* 金友玉昆

### Etymology 2
#### Pronunciation

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): hún (hun$^2$)
    (Zhuyin): ㄏㄨㄣˊ
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: hún
*** Zhuyin: ㄏㄨㄣˊ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: hún
*** Wade–Giles: hun$^2$
*** Yale: hwún
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: hwen
*** Palladius: хунь (xunʹ)
*** Sinological IPA : /xu̯ən³⁵/

#### Definitions

昆
* Only used in 昆侖／昆仑 (húnlún), alternative form of 渾淪 / 浑沦

### Etymology 3
#### Pronunciation

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): hùn (hun$^4$)
    (Zhuyin): ㄏㄨㄣˋ
* Cantonese (Jyutping): wan$^6$
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: hùn
*** Zhuyin: ㄏㄨㄣˋ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: hùn
*** Wade–Giles: hun$^4$
*** Yale: hwùn
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: huenn
*** Palladius: хунь (xunʹ)
*** Sinological IPA : /xu̯ən⁵¹/
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: wan$^6$
*** Yale: wahn
*** Cantonese Pinyin: wan$^6$
*** Guangdong Romanization: wen$^6$
*** Sinological IPA : /wɐn²²/

#### Definitions

昆
* (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) Alternative form of 混 (“to unite”)
* 54th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "unity" (𝌻)

### Etymology 4
#### Pronunciation

* Cantonese (Jyutping): kwan$^1$
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: kwan$^1$
*** Yale: kwān
*** Cantonese Pinyin: kwan$^1$
*** Guangdong Romanization: kuen$^1$
*** Sinological IPA : /kʷʰɐn⁵⁵/

#### Definitions

昆
* (Cantonese) to deceive; to fool

### Etymology 5

* 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

* 李學勤，2012《字源》，天津：天津古籍出版社，2013年7月2次印刷
* “昆”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

## Japanese
### Kanji

(Jōyō kanji)
* A swarm of or an organism that swarms (e.g. bugs), an organism that forms in large groups
* elder brother
* 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

* 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)

## Korean
### Etymology

From Middle Chinese 昆 (MC kwon). Recorded as Middle Korean 곤 (kwon) (Yale: kwon) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

### Hanja

Wikisource 昆 (eumhun 맏형 곤 (macheong gon))
* hanja form of 곤 (“swarm”)
* hanja form of 곤 (“the eldest brother”)

#### Compounds

* 견곤 (堅昆, Gyeon'gon)
* 곤손 (昆孫, gonson)
* 곤충 (昆蟲, gonchung)
* 곤포 (昆布, gonpo)

#### See also

* 곤 (混, gon, maybe, Huns or Hünen giants)
* 곤 (猑, gon, “swan, among the largest birds”)
* 곤 (鯤, gon, “dog, a big one”)
* 곤 (鵾, gon, “swan, among the largest birds”)

### References

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

## Vietnamese
### Han character

昆: Hán Việt readings: côn
昆: Hán Nôm readings: con, gon

### Noun

昆 • (con)
* chữ Nôm form of con (“child”).