koan
See also: kōan, koàn, kôaⁿ, koân, and kóaⁿ
English
WOTD – 23 September 2010
Alternative forms
- kōan
Etymology
From Japanese 公案 (kōan), which was from Chinese 公案 (gōng'àn, “official business”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈkəʊ.ɑːn/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈkoʊ.ɑn/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
koan (plural koans)
- (Zen Buddhism) A story about a Zen master and his student, sometimes like a riddle, other times like a fable, which has become an object of Zen study, and which, when meditated upon, may unlock mechanisms in the Zen student’s mind leading to satori.
- 1977, Thomas Hoover, chapter 1, in Zen Culture, →ISBN:
- Zen, with its absurdist koan, laughs at life much the way the Marx brothers did. What exactly can you make of a philosophical system whose teacher answers the question, "How do you see things so clearly?" with the seeming one-liner, "I close my eyes"?
-
- A riddle with no solution, used to provoke reflection on the inadequacy of logical reasoning, and to lead to enlightenment.
- 1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow:
- Gibberish. Or else a koan that Achtfaden isn’t equipped to master, a transcendent puzzle that could lead him to some moment of light.
- 2001, Joyce Carol Oates, Middle Age, paperback edition, Fourth Estate, page 303:
- As always the koan “Why, Why am I here, why here” begins in her head, but she beats it back like a housewife with a broom.
-
Translations
zen story
|
riddle without solution
|
Anagrams
- KAON, Kano, Kona, NKAO, kano, kaon
French
Etymology
From Japanese 公案 (kōan), from Literary Chinese 公案 (literally “public case”).
Noun
koan m (plural koan)
- koan
Further reading
- “koan”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
- kaon
Hungarian
Alternative forms
- kóan
Etymology
From English koan, from Japanese 公案 (kōan), from Literary Chinese 公案 (literally, "public case").
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈkoːɒn]
- Hyphenation: ko‧an
- Rhymes: -ɒn
Noun
koan (plural koanok)
- koan
Declension
| Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony) | ||
|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |
| nominative | koan | koanok |
| accusative | koant | koanokat |
| dative | koannak | koanoknak |
| instrumental | koannal | koanokkal |
| causal-final | koanért | koanokért |
| translative | koanná | koanokká |
| terminative | koanig | koanokig |
| essive-formal | koanként | koanokként |
| essive-modal | — | — |
| inessive | koanban | koanokban |
| superessive | koanon | koanokon |
| adessive | koannál | koanoknál |
| illative | koanba | koanokba |
| sublative | koanra | koanokra |
| allative | koanhoz | koanokhoz |
| elative | koanból | koanokból |
| delative | koanról | koanokról |
| ablative | koantól | koanoktól |
| non-attributive possessive - singular | koané | koanoké |
| non-attributive possessive - plural | koanéi | koanokéi |
| Possessive forms of koan | ||
|---|---|---|
| possessor | single possession | multiple possessions |
| 1st person sing. | koanom | koanjaim |
| 2nd person sing. | koanod | koanjaid |
| 3rd person sing. | koanja | koanjai |
| 1st person plural | koanunk | koanjaink |
| 2nd person plural | koanotok | koanjaitok |
| 3rd person plural | koanjuk | koanjaik |
Volapük
Noun
koan (nominative plural koans)
- shell, seashell
Declension
declension of koan
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | koan | koans |
| genitive | koana | koanas |
| dative | koane | koanes |
| accusative | koani | koanis |
| vocative 1 | o koan! | o koans! |
| predicative 2 | koanu | koanus |
- 1 status as a case is disputed
- 2 in later, non-classical Volapük only
Derived terms
- koanaf (“shellfish”)
Yola
Noun
koan
- Alternative form of cooan
References
- Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 51