Mangan

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A term that may refer to manganese, an essential chemical element with symbol Mn, used in steel production and batteries
2. It could also denote a color associated with the presence of manganese compounds, often used in art
3. Additionally, it might indicate a geographic or cultural reference in a given context, although specific meanings may vary based on usage

Etymology: Anyone who has played Japanese mahjong will recognize this term as a scoring level. In that game, a 満貫 (mangan) is a hand worth a set high value, a point ceiling that players reach only with a strong combination of tiles. The name comes from its two characters, 満 "full" and 貫, a "string of coins," which in older Chinese usage was a bundle of strung coins. A full string of coins is a complete, maximal sum, and the scoring term carries that sense of a full measure. The term was borrowed into Japanese from Mandarin 滿貫 (mǎnguàn), with the same characters read in Japanese pronunciation. It reached English as a loanword from Japanese in the context of mahjong. The sense of a color linked to manganese compounds is a separate meaning, and this etymology does not cover how that sense developed.

Synonyms: manganese, manganese ion