Chinese character 罐

罐 names a vessel in Chinese. Its left part 缶 signals a pottery vessel; 雚 lends the character its sound. 《說文新附》, a supplement to the early Chinese dictionary 《說文》, glosses it simply as “器也” (“a vessel”).

An older use was a pot for holding or drawing water. A Japanese dictionary records 缶 as a metal-can word in an 1886 example, linking the word to English can or Dutch kan. As of 2026-09-07, standard Japanese uses 缶 for a metal can; 罐 is its older form there.