Khan (title)

Khan, Kahn (; ; Azerbaijani: xan; Ottoman: han; Old Turkic: , kaɣan; Chinese: 可汗, kèhán; Goguryeo : 皆, key; Silla: 干, kan; Baekje: 瑕, ke; Manchu: , Pashto: 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".