冠 guān cap
cap; crown; headgear
How to remember 冠: 冖 cover + 元 yuan + 寸 inch = cap. At a flea market a girl pays one yuan, lifts the cover off a box and finds a crown one inch wide, labelled cap.
Component breakdown
冠 = 冖 cover + 㝴
- 冖 cover
- 㝴
- 元 yuan
- 一 one
- 兀 pedestal
- 寸 inch
- 元 yuan
At a flea market a girl pays one yuan, lifts the cover off a box and finds a crown one inch wide, labelled cap.
How it is used
- Polyphone: guān (noun) "crown, cap" in literal/historical contexts, vs guàn (verb/adjective) "to top, be first" - 冠军 guànjūn "champion" uses the guàn reading.
- 夺冠 duóguàn "to win the championship" (literally "seize the crown") is a common sports-news collocation.
- Outside 冠军/夺冠, 冠 is rare and mostly literary.