Hunan

Hu·nan
H4U1N1A1N1
/huːˈnɑːn//huːˈnæn/

proper noun

A province of China, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting. Capital: Changsha.

Less commonScrabble 8

Meanings

proper noun

alternative misspelling Hu'nan · alternative also Hu-nan · alternative Hu Nan · alternative obsolete Hoonan

  1. A province of China, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting. Capital: Changsha.

    Mao was born in Hunan in November 1893.

    1976 August 29, “Mao Tse-tung's four marriages”, in Free China Weekly, volume XVII, number 34, Taipei, page 3
    5 more examples

    Foreign Missions.—Pursuing the Fulton pledge system of two-cents-a-week-for-Missions, our young people have contributed to the support of their representative in China, Rev. T. J. Preston. He has recently gone to our station at Chang-teh, in the Hunan Province, China.

    1899 May, “Report of Permanent Committee on Christian Endeavor”, in Minutes of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, volume 69, Nashville, TN, page 21a

    The specimens on which the original description of O. Henryi was based were sent to Kew in 1886 by Mr. A. Henry, who had obtained them at Patung in Hupeh, Central China. Since then species has been met with in the adjoining provinces of Hunan and Szechuan.

    1909, “OLIGOBOTRYA HENRYI”, in Curtis's Botanical Magazine, volume 5, page 8238

    Toward the end of 1916 the Siems-Carey Co., allied with the American International Corporation, entered into a contract with the Chinese Government for the construction, among others, of a railway in the district-the Chuchow-Chinchow Line-which is to connect southern Hunan with the eastern seaboard of Kwangtung.

    1917 April 6, “HONG KONG”, in Supplement to Commerce Reports, number 52a, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Department of Commerce, page 14

    On the day after the feast of Pentecost (May 31, 1784) the three boats left Chao-ch'ing and without any mishap passed all the customs stations in Kwangtung, Kwangsi and Hunan.

    1948, Bernward H. Willeke, Imperial Government and Catholic Missions in China During the Years 1784-1785, St. Bonaventure, New York: Franciscan Institute, page 31

    The first task was to clear the Hunan province of all hostile forces so as to make it possible for the various armies to converge on Wuhan area, including Wuchang, Hankow and Hanyang on the Yangtze.

    1957, Chiang Chung-cheng (Kai-shek), “Beginnings (1924-1927)”, in Soviet Russia in China: A Summing-up at Seventy, New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 42–43

Origin

Borrowed from Mandarin 湖南 (Húnán) Wade-Giles romanization: Hu²-nan², literally “south of the lake”, referring to Lake Dongting. Doublet of Honam.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic خُونَان, هُونَان
  • خُونَان (ḵunān)province of China
  • هُونَان (hunān)province of China
Chinese Cantonese 湖南
  • 湖南 (wu⁴ naam⁴)province of China
Chinese Mandarin 湖南
  • 湖南 (Húnán)province of China
Czech Chu-nan
  • Chu-nanprovince of China
Esperanto Hunano
  • Hunanoprovince of China
Greek Χουνάν
  • Χουνάν (Chounán)province of China
Hindi हूनान
  • हूनान (hūnān)province of China
Hungarian Hunan
  • Hunanprovince of China
Indonesian Hunan
  • Hunanprovince of China
Japanese 湖南
  • 湖南 (Konan)province of China
Korean 후난, 호남
  • 후난 (Hunan)province of China
  • 호남 (honam)province of China
Latvian Hunaņa
  • Hunaņaprovince of China
Lithuanian Hunanas
  • Hunanasprovince of China
Polish Hunan
  • Hunanprovince of China
Russian Хуна́нь
  • Хуна́нь (Xunánʹ)province of China
Spanish Hunán
  • Hunánprovince of China
Vietnamese Hồ Nam
  • Hồ Namprovince of China

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with Hunan

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

Hunan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hunan

MLA

“Hunan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hunan. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Hunan,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hunan.

Source: Hunan on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.