# Pronunciation: 冠



## yuechu

Hello/大家好，

I was reading an article a few days ago about someone whose given name includes the character "冠" -- the singer/actor Edison Chen 陈冠希 (who was especially 'famous' in 2008). The article marks his name as Chen2 guan1xi1.

As a surname, I believe it is read Guan4, right? Does this change to "guan1" if it is in a given name? (or is it still guan4?) I once knew someone with "冠" in their given name and remembered it being "guan4" (unless I pronounced his name wrong) so was surprised to see this Wikipedia article mark the pronunciation as guan1...

Thanks in advance/谢谢！


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## SuperXW

Most local Chinese would pronounce guan4, as guan4 (verb. to be on top) sounds much better than guan1 (noun. hat).
A wikipedia article could be wrong, or not follow the common way.


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## chlorophylle

verbe. to be on top = （ɡuàn）
eg: 
冠（ɡuàn）军   
夺冠（ɡuàn） 
冠（ɡuàn）名

none. hat/corona/crown = guān
eg: 
怒发冲冠(guān) 
皇冠(guān) 
衣冠(guān)不整
冠(guān)冕堂皇


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## OneStroke

In Cantonese, the 冠 in 陈冠希 is pronounced 'gun3', which is 陰去. The Putonghua equivalent should therefore be the fourth tone, guan4, which is 去聲. It may be that in the origin of his name, 冠 is a verb and not a noun, but 名從主人.

By the way, here's a nice mnemonic that I use to remember the difference between guan1 and guan4: you say 衣guan1禽獸, but 沐猴而guan4.  The former treats 冠 as a noun (a beast with clothes and a hat) while the former treats 冠 as a verb (a monkey is washed and 'worn a hat' - 冠ed). <insert 被XX joke here>


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## yuechu

Thank you all for your replies! I think it must have been a mistake on the page. It has since been changed to the correct pronunciation (in this context) : "Guan4".
It looks like there are also a lot of expressions for me to learn with this word! 谢谢大家


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## Youngfun

Agree with SuperXW.
Here even an "intellectual" word, such as "coronary artery" 冠状动脉 is pronouced with guan4 by all teachers in my college. 
But it should be guan1, lit. hat-shaped artery.


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## Ghabi

OneStroke said:


> By the way, here's a nice mnemonic that I use to remember the difference  between guan1 and guan4: you say 衣guan1禽獸, but 沐猴而guan4. The former treats 冠 as a noun (a beast with clothes and a hat) while  the former treats 冠 as a verb (a monkey is washed and 'worn a hat' -  冠ed)


This is a very good mnemonic, OS, although I'd venture to point out that 沐猴 is a single word meaning "monkey" and has nothing to do with "wash" (c.f. this thread.)


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## OneStroke

Thanks, would never have guessed.  I wonder how many more of the 'etymologies' I know are really false.


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## yuechu

Hello!
Is the pronunciation 冠 guàn here as well?
拜当今科技发展所赐，我们有幸在时隔大半个世纪之后，仍然可以从璀璨瑰丽的电影史宝库中撷取这位好莱坞历史上名冠一时的明星留下的世纪经典，静心地欣赏她精彩的演唱。
(I'm having trouble understanding the meaning of this sentence)
Thanks!


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## Ghabi

冠 guan3 is a verb here (名冠一时 "[someone's] fame takes the crown for some time", i.e. to enjoy the greatest fame; compare expressions like 名震一时/名噪一时).

A literal translation of the sentence would go something like: "Thanks to modern technology, we can still draw from the dazzling treasure house of movie history those 20th century classics this most famous star in Hollywood history left behind more than 50 years ago, quietly enjoying her fabulous singing".


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## yuechu

Thanks so much for your help, Ghabi!


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## SuperXW

Ghabi said:


> 冠 guan*3* is a verb here...


You mean guan*4*?


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## Ghabi

My apologies for the bad typo. Thanks a lot for catching it.


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## Skatinginbc

Ghabi said:


> 沐猴 is a single word meaning "monkey" and has nothing to do with "wash"


沐猴而冠 sounds like a word play to me.  The coordinator 而 ("and") seems to suggest the verbal function of 沐.  Although 沐猴 was indeed a single word in the Chu language, the first syllable (*m-) for Old Chinese "monkey" probably had started to drop or be reanalyzed as a meaningful unit in the "common language" of the Han Dynasty. Adding 而冠 to 沐猴 seems to make fun of the Chu speech: "You Chu people call monkeys _muhou_?  I bet they are not only bathed (沐) but also hatted (冠) as are you Chu people."  It was apparently an ethnic slur (人言楚人『沐猴而冠』耳)，linking their "uncultured" speech to a "barbarian" stereotype (The Chu people are bathed and hatted monkeys).


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