Cun (unit)

1 cun =
SI units
33.3×10^−3 m 33.33 mm
US customary / Imperial units
0.1094 ft 1.312 in
1 tsun =
SI units
37.148×10^−3 m 37.1475 mm
US customary / Imperial units
0.121875 ft 1.46250 in
1 sun =
SI units
30.3×10^−3 m 30.30 mm
US customary / Imperial units
99.4×10^−3 ft 1.193 in
Cun (unit)
Chinese name
Chinese 寸
Korean name
Hangul 촌
Hanja 寸
Japanese name
Kanji 寸
Hiragana すん

The cun (Chinese: 寸; pinyin: cùn; Wade–Giles: ts'un; Japanese: sun; Korean: chon) 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 called a "tsun".[1] 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 (寸(すん) sun?), was standardized at 1000⁄33 mm (~3.030 cm, ~1.193 in, or ~0.09942 ft).

See also

References

  1. ^ Government of Hong Kong, Weights and Measures Ordinance of 1997

External links