Cun (unit)
| Cun | |||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 寸 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Korean name | |||||||||||||||||||
| Hangul | 촌,치 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hanja | 寸 | ||||||||||||||||||
|
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| Japanese name | |||||||||||||||||||
| Kanji | 寸 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hiragana | すん | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | cùn |
| Wade–Giles | ts'un |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Yale Romanization | chyun3 |
| Jyutping | tsun |
| Southern Min | |
| Hokkien POJ | chhùn |
| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Revised Romanization | chon |
| McCune–Reischauer | ch'on |
| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Romanization | sun |
| Cun | |
|---|---|
Wooden ruler of the western Han dynasty, unearthed at Jinguan Pass Site in Jinta County
|
|
| Unit system | Chinese unit |
| Unit of | length |
| 1 cun in ... | ... is equal to ... |
| metric (SI) units |
1/30 m ~33.33 mm |
| imperial/US units |
~0.10936 ft ~1.3123 in |
| Tsun | |
|---|---|
A section of an old Hong Kong ruler, showing the last (10th) cun of a chi. One can see that the chi in that jurisdiction was exactly equal to 14 5/8 of an inch. A metric ruler is shown next to it for comparison
|
|
| Unit system | Chinese unit |
| Unit of | length |
| 1 tsun in ... | ... is equal to ... |
| metric (SI) units |
0.0371475 m ~37.15 mm |
| imperial/US units |
0.121875 ft 1 37/80 in |
| Sun | |
|---|---|
| Unit system | Japanese unit |
| Unit of | length |
| 1 sun in ... | ... is equal to ... |
| metric (SI) units |
1⁄33 m ~30.30 mm |
| imperial/US units |
~0.099419 ft ~1.1930 in |
The cun (Chinese: 寸; pinyin: cùn; Wade–Giles: ts'un; Japanese: sun; Korean: chon), often glossed as the Chinese inch, is a traditional Chinese unit of length. Its traditional measure is the width of a person's thumb at the knuckle, whereas the width of the two forefingers denotes 1.5 cun and the width of all fingers side-by-side is three cuns. In this sense it continues to be used to chart acupuncture points on the human body in various uses of traditional Chinese medicine.
The cun was part of a larger system, and represented one-tenth of a chi ("Chinese foot"). In time the lengths were standardized, although to different values in different jurisdictions. (See chi (unit) for details.)
In Hong Kong, using the traditional standard, it measures ~3.715 cm (~1.463 in) and is written "tsun". In the twentieth century in the Republic of China, the lengths were standardized to fit with the metric system, and in current usage in People's Republic of China and Taiwan it measures 3 1⁄3 cm (~1.312 in).
In Japan, the corresponding unit, sun (
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