Han

¹ American  

[hahn] / hɑn /

noun

1. a dynasty in China, 206 b.c.–a.d. 220, with an interregnum, a.d. 9–25: characterized by consolidation of the centralized imperial state and territorial expansion.

2. a river flowing from central China into the Yangtze at Hankow. 900 miles (1,450 km) long.

3. the Chinese people in general, especially those not of Mongol, Manchu, Tibetan, or other non-Chinese extraction.

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Han ² American  

[hahn, huhn] / hɑn, hʌn /

noun

• Hans,
  plural
• Han
  plural

1. a member of a group of Indigenous people inhabiting the Yukon River drainage basin near the Alaska-Canada border.

2. the Athabascan language of the Han.

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Han ¹ British  

/ hæn /

noun

1. the imperial dynasty that ruled China for most of the time from 206 _bc to 221 _ad , expanding its territory and developing its bureaucracy

2. the Chinese people as contrasted to Mongols, Manchus, etc

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Han ² British  

/ hæn /

noun

1. a river in E central China, rising in S Shaanxi and flowing southeast through Hubei to the Yangtze River at Wuhan. Length: about 1450 km (900 miles)

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Han
  plural
• Hans
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Han

From Kutchin han-gwičin “river dwellers”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Han Hans

The church is probably best known for the mass weddings where thousands of couples were married by Han and her late husband and founder Sun Myung Moon in a stadium.

From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026

Sanjay Chandra is the company’s first chief information officer and Han Chiu is its first senior vice president of AI and software engineering, CEO Tom Hale told me in an exclusive interview.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run has used Unreal Engine since the ride’s debut in 2019 to create a dynamic landscape out of the front window of Han Solo’s famed ship.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026

Zolensky and colleague JangMi Han discovered small CM1 fragments rich in salt inside the Hillsborough meteorite.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026

"You're not the Han Solo in this relationship, you know."

From "Eleanor & Park" by Rainbow Rowell

They accuse Hans S of luring her into a secluded area beneath the fortress, known as the General von Aster room after a 19th-Century Prussian general.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

Jon Favreau, who directed the live-action “Lion King,” serves as executive producer alongside the BBC natural-history veteran Mike Gunto; the score by Hans Zimmer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

"It is a pretty aggressive grower," Hans Paerl, a professor of marine and environmental sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told the magazine.

From Barron's ● Jun. 21, 2026

Inspired by Hans Holbein, this portrait of the English novelist and his artist partner was one of the first celebratory portrayals of a gay couple.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026

At 7:45 Hans, the apprentice, arrived and at 8:00 Toos, our saleslady-bookkeeper.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom