Khan (title)

Khan, Kahn (Mongolian: хан/khan; Turkish: kağan or hakan; Azerbaijani: xan; Ottoman: han; Old Turkic: 𐰴𐰍𐰣, kaɣan; Chinese: 可汗, kèhán; Goguryeo : 皆, key; Silla: 干, kan; Baekje: 瑕, ke; Manchu: ᡥᠠᠨ, Pashto: خان Urdu: خان‎, Balochi: خان Hindi: ख़ान; Nepali: खाँ Bengali: খ়ান; Bulgarian: хан,Chuvash: хун, hun) is originally a title for a sovereign or a military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Mongolic and Turkic tribes living to the north of China. "Khan" also occurs as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289. The Rourans were the first people who used the titles khagan and khan for their emperors, replacing the Chanyu of the Xiongnu, whom Grousset and others assume to be Turkic. Subsequently the Ashina adopted the title before the Mongols brought it to the rest of Asia. In the middle of the sixth century the Iranians knew of a "Kagan – King of the Turks".

Khan now has many equivalent meanings such as "commander", "leader", or "ruler" "king" "chief". As of 2015 khans exist in South Asia, Central Asia, Eastern Europe and Turkey. The female alternatives are Khatun and Khanum. These titles or names are sometimes written as Han, Kan, Hakan, Hanum, or Hatun (in Turkey) and as "xan", "xanım" (in Azerbaijan). Various Mongolic and Turkic peoples from Central Asia gave the title new prominence after period of the Mongol Empire (1206–1368) in the Old World and later brought the title "khan" into Northern Asia, where locals later adopted it. Khagan is rendered as Khan of Khans. It was the title of Chinese Emperor Emperor Taizong of Tang (Heavenly Khagan, reigned 626 to 649), and also the title of Genghis Khan and of the persons selected to rule the Mongol Empire. For instance Möngke Khan (reigned 1251-1259) and Ogedei Khan (reigned 1229-1241) would be "Khagans" but not Chagatai Khan, who was not proclaimed ruler of the Mongol Empire by the kurultai.