袁

袁 U+8881, 袁 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-8881 ← 袀 [U+8880] CJK Unified Ideographs 袂 → [U+8882]

Translingual

Han character

袁 (Kangxi radical 145, 衣+4, 10 strokes, cangjie input 土口竹女 (GRHV), four-corner 4073₂, composition ⿱𠮷𧘇)

Derived characters

• 㝨, 瞏, 𥰟, 遠, 園, 榬, 褤, 轅(辕), 鎱, 媴, 㨬, 溒, 猿

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1113, character 8
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 34152
• Dae Jaweon: page 1579, character 3
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 444, character 11
• Unihan data for U+8881

Chinese

simp. and trad.		袁
alternative forms		𡋡 𡊮

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 袁
Shang	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Oracle bone script	Small seal script

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

	Old Chinese
薳	*ɢʷalʔ
袁	*ɢʷan
園	*ɢʷan
轅	*ɢʷan
猿	*ɢʷan
榬	*ɢʷan
溒	*ɢʷan
遠	*ɢʷanʔ, *ɢʷans

In oracle bone script, ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意): 衣 (“clothes”) + 又 (“hand”) – "to put on clothes; to wear", representing the original form of 擐 (OC *ɡʷraːns) (Qiu, 1985, Chi, 2014). Some variant forms added 〇 (the earliest form of 圓 (OC *ɢon, “circle”), now written 口) as a sound component. The component 又 has corrupted into 㞢 in seal script and 土 in clerical script.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Standard)

  (Pinyin): yuán (yuan²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄩㄢˊ

  (Chengdu, Sichuanese Pinyin): yuan²

• Cantonese

  (Guangzhou–Hong Kong, Jyutping): jyun⁴

  (Taishan, Wiktionary): yon³

• Hakka

  (Sixian, PFS): yèn / yàn

  (Hailu, HRS): rhan

  (Meixian, Guangdong): yan²

• Eastern Min (BUC): uòng / nguòng
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): oân

  (Teochew, Peng'im): uang⁵ / uêng⁵

• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁶yoe

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yuán
    • Zhuyin: ㄩㄢˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yuán
    • Wade–Giles: yüan²
    • Yale: ywán
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yuan
    • Palladius: юань (juanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɥɛn³⁵/
  • (Chengdu)
    • Sichuanese Pinyin: yuan²
    • Scuanxua Ladinxua Xin Wenz: uan
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /yan²¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: jyun⁴
    • Yale: yùhn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: jyn⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: yun⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jyːn²¹/
  • (Taishanese, Taicheng)
    • Wiktionary: yon³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jᵘɔn²²/
• Hakka
  • (Northern Sixian, incl. Miaoli)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: yèn
    • Hakka Romanization System: ien^ˇ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: yan²
    • Sinological IPA: /i̯en¹¹/
  • (Southern Sixian, incl. Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: yàn
    • Hakka Romanization System: (r)ian^ˇ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: yan²
    • Sinological IPA: /(j)i̯an¹¹/
  • (Hailu, incl. Zhudong)
    • Hakka Romanization System: rhan
    • Sinological IPA: /ʒan⁵⁵/
  • (Meixian)
    • Guangdong: yan²
    • Sinological IPA: /ian¹¹/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: uòng / nguòng
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /uoŋ⁵³/, /ŋuoŋ⁵³/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: oân
    • Tâi-lô: uân
    • Phofsit Daibuun: oaan
    • IPA (Xiamen): /uan²⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /uan²⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /uan¹³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /uan²⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /uan²³/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: uang⁵ / uêng⁵
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: uâng / uêng
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /uaŋ⁵⁵/, /ueŋ⁵⁵/

Note:

• uang1 - Shantou;
• uêng5 - Chaozhou.

• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ⁶yoe
    • MiniDict: yoe^去
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ³hhyoe
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /ɦyø²³/

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• Middle Chinese: hjwon

Rime
Character	袁
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	云 (35)
Final (韻)	元 (66)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Closed
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	雨元切
Baxter	hjwon
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ɦʉɐn/
Pan Wuyun	/ɦʷiɐn/
Shao Rongfen	/ɣiuɐn/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ɦuan/
Li Rong	/ɣiuɐn/
Wang Li	/ɣĭwɐn/
Bernhard Karlgren	/i̯wɐn/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	yuán
Expected Cantonese Reflex	jyun4

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[ɢ]ʷa[n]/

  (Zhengzhang): /*ɢʷan/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	袁
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	yuán
Middle Chinese	‹ hjwon ›
Old Chinese	/*[ɢ]ʷa[n]/
English	long robe
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	袁
Reading #	1/1
No.	16220
Phonetic component	袁
Rime group	元
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	袁
Old Chinese	/*ɢʷan/

Definitions

袁

1. (historical dictionaries only, of clothing) long
2. a surname

   袁世凱／袁世凯  ―  Yuán Shìkǎi  ―  Yuan Shikai

   袁隆平  ―  Yuán Lóngpíng  ―  Yuan Longping

Compounds

• 袁大腦殼 / 袁大脑壳
• 袁大頭 / 袁大头 (yuándàtóu)
• 袁安臥雪 / 袁安卧雪
• 袁沖 / 袁冲 (Yuánchōng)
• 袁頭 / 袁头 (yuántóu)

References

• “袁”, 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–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A03714
• “袁”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.

Japanese

Kanji

袁

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. long kimono

Readings

• On (unclassified): えん (en)、おん (on)

Korean

Hanja

袁 • (won) (hangeul 원, revised won, McCune–Reischauer wŏn, Yale wen)

1. robe

Vietnamese

Han character

袁: Hán Nôm readings: viên

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