乾
简 乾 · 干 · 繁 乾Meanings · gon1
- 1. dry 2. clean 3. in vain 4. dried food 5. foster 6. adoptive 7. to ignore 8. exhausted 9. to empty 10. cleaned out 11. cash gift 12. adopted 13. in vain 14. without tears 15. without fluid 16. only (with nothing else) 17. to scold 18. helplessly 19. (adjective) dull and dreary (because not in a relationship and single for a long time)
Meanings · kin4
- the first of the eight diagrams, denoting the principle of heaven, the sovereign, the male and strength
- a surname
About these definitions
Source definition segments, in their original order. Characters a definition cites are shown without their Mandarin pinyin; classifier lists that CC-Canto copied from CC-CEDICT are marked Mandarin. The community dictionary is not independently verified by zimai.
Reading & tones
Schematic citation-tone diagrams from the source numbers. These are not recordings or predictions of connected speech.
Reading difference from Unihan
- 乾 has the reading gon1 here; Unihan’s citation reading is kin4. Different syllable across these source readings. CC-Canto also lists 乾 gon1 as its own entry.
Computed by zimai: each syllable of the CC-Canto word reading is compared with Unihan 17.0.0 kCantonese for its character. The comparison does not say why a reading differs (a changed tone, 變音, a reading tied to one meaning, or a source variant).
Same syllable, six tones
Characters whose customary Unihan reading (kCantonese) is this syllable in each tone, chosen as in the tone atlas (2013 standard level, then the number of CC-CEDICT words they form), with CC-Canto 2017's meaning for that reading; a dash means no catalogue character has that reading. Checked syllables (-p, -t, -k) normally carry tones 1, 3 and 6. Character readings, not word readings; no frequency implied.
Written characters
Both source spellings are represented. Written membership is not an etymological or semantic claim.
Mandarin comparison · separate source entries
CC-CEDICT, the Mandarin–English dictionary, lists the same written form:
- 乾 Qián CC-CEDICT · Mandarinsurname Qian
- 乾 qián CC-CEDICT · Mandarinone of the Eight Trigrams 八卦 bā guà, symbolizing heaven; male principle; ☰; ancient Chinese compass point: 315° (northwest)
- 乾 Gān CC-CEDICT · Mandarinsurname Gan
A separate source entry, shown for comparison. The same characters can carry different senses in Mandarin and in Cantonese; zimai does not align these senses.
CC-Canto includes this pinyin reference: gan1. It does not establish a Mandarin word with the same meaning.
Look up this spelling in the Mandarin dictionary ↗Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 20 senses · 2 Cantonese readings
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
gon1 · kin4
Cantonese word readings for 乾. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.
CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack
Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
character · Etymology 1
- dry; moistureless; waterless; arid
- to dry; to exhaust
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to neglect; to snub
- (colloquial) to drain one's glass; bottoms up
- dried up; exhausted; drained
- (of voice) dry and coarse
- dried-up food
- adopted; adoptive; foster
- in vain; for nothing
- falsely; superficially
- not sweet; lacking sweetness
character · Etymology 2
- first of the eight trigrams (bagua) used in Taoist cosmology, represented by the symbol ☰
- first hexagram of the I Ching, represented by the symbol ䷀
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese, figurative) sky; heaven
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese, figurative) emperor; monarch
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese, figurative) sun
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese, figurative) northwest
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese, figurative) man; male
- a surname
character · Etymology 3
- (Min) alternative form of 焦 (“dry”)
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack