Mulan

Mu·lan
M3U1L1A1N1

proper noun

A female warrior from Chinese folklore.

Less commonScrabble 7

Meanings

proper nounMulan (countable and uncountable, plural Mulans)

plural Mulans · alternative Mu-lan · alternative Mu-Lan · alternative Mu Lan

  1. countableuncountableA female warrior from Chinese folklore.
  2. Any of several places in China:
    1. countableuncountableA county of Harbin, Heilongjiang, China.

      We had no idea how long this period of “re-education” might last. We were to present ourselves within ten days to local officials in Mulan county, about four hours by road from Harbin.

      1992, Zhimei Zhang, Foxspirit: A Woman in Mao's China, Quebec: Vehicule Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 168
      2 more examples

      Vice Chairman (Lin Chun-pu) of the Mulan County Revolutionary Committee, Vice Chairman (Li Te-tung) of the revolutionary committee of a commune in Payen County[…]also spoke. They related their experience in grasping revolution to stimulate production, as well as in pushing up a high tide in spring farming.

      1969 February 13 [1969 February 12], “Harbin Mobilization Rally Hails Mao's Line”, in Daily Report: Communist China, volume I, number 30, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, sourced from Harbin Heilungkiang Provincial Service, translation of original in Mandarin, →OCLC, Communist China: Northeast Region, page G 1

      Not only were the Korean Communists numerous, but their influence extended over a wide territory ranging from Chientao in the southeast to Ilan and Mulan in the southern part of Heilungkiang Province, where the Koreans had formed communities of their own.

      1983, Chong-Sik Lee, Revolutionary Struggle in Manchuria: Chinese Communism and Soviet Interest, 1922–1945, University of California Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 222
    2. countableuncountableA township in Huangpi district, Hubei, China.
    3. countableuncountableA river in Fujian, China.
      1 more example

      THE FOLLOWING TEXT commemorates the reconstruction and expansion of the main temple of a local cult in Putian District, Fujian Province, located on China’s southeast coast. The god, known by the time the inscription was composed in 1138 as the Duke of Manifest Kindness (Xianhui hou), was the proprietary deity of a prominent local kin group, the Fang of Baidu, a small village which lay about three miles east of Putian city in the hills edging the fertile flood plain of the Mulan River. Like many prominent kin groups of the area, the Fang had abandoned their original homes, which had been in the hinterland behind Hangzhou, and settled in Putian in the late 800s, a time of widespread unrest that accompanied the fall of the Tang dynasty (618-907).

      2005, “Fang Lüe, "Inscription for the Temple of Auspicious Response"”, in Victor H. Mair, Nancy S. Steinhardt, Paul R. Goldin, editors, Hawaiʻi Reader in Traditional Chinese Culture, Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 392

Origin

From Mandarin 木蘭/木兰 (Mùlán, literally “magnolia”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 木蘭 /木兰
  • 木蘭 /木兰 (Mùlán)warrior; locations

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

Mulan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Mulan

MLA

“Mulan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Mulan. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Mulan,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Mulan.

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