<p>Let's talk in terms of Traditional Chinese here, which I feel is going to be much clearer.</p>

<ul>
<li>「杆」is <em>not</em> pronounced <strong>gǎn</strong>. The valid pronunciations listed in dictionaries are <strong>gàn</strong> and <strong>gān</strong>.</li>
<li>「杆」pronounced <strong>gān</strong> means <em>pole</em> or <em>rod</em>.</li>
<li>「桿」is only pronounced <strong>gǎn</strong>, and is a synonym of「杆」when it is pronounced <strong>gān</strong>, in the sense that「桿」can mean <em>pole</em> or <em>rod</em>.</li>
<li>「桿」(<strong>gǎn</strong>) also means <em>lever</em> or <em>handle</em>.</li>
</ul>

<p>This is not hard to remember if you consider that「干」is never pronounced in the third tone, and the other common character which uses「旱」as a phonetic component,「趕」(<strong>gǎn</strong>), is also pronounced in the third tone.</p>

<p>Simplified Chinese merged「杆」and「桿」into one character.</p>

<hr>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/d3IEN.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/d3IEN.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>The「杆」mentioned in the text is the horizontal bar referenced in the image above (<strong>扶手橫桿</strong>/<strong>扶手横杆</strong>), which should be pronounced <strong>gǎn</strong>. From <a href="https://panlex.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Panlex</a>:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Searching <strong>héng gǎn</strong> or <strong>hénggǎn</strong>  results in 横杆 with definitions <em>cross-bar, rail, overarm</em></p></li>
<li><p>Searching  <strong>héng gān</strong> turns up no results</p></li>
<li>Searching  <strong>hénggān</strong> results in 横竿</li>
</ul>

<p>(You can check Panlex's dictionary sources <a href="https://panlex.org/source-list/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a> by filtering with the key 'cmn'.)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-11T15:41:33.630Z
@dan this might be a bit contentious. No dictionaries (Mainland, Taiwan, HK) I can find lists 扶杆 or 扶桿 as an actual word, which means that it literally means a "gan" that is for support purposes. It's plausible to interpret 杆 in 扶杆 as a shortened version of 欄杆, but without a prescribed reference, 杆 by itself just means *pole* (in traditional Chinese). People have written both 扶杆 and 扶桿, meaning the there's no such set word, and it's up for interpretation, and the most direct interpretation to me is that **gān** means pole and **gǎn** means handle.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-11T15:47:35.990Z
interestingly enough. I posted this in my We Chat's moments. By now, two people think it's gān, and so far no one votes for gan3.
dan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-11T15:53:16.700Z
@dan this is going to be one of those situations where the most popular support is going to eventually define the pronunciation, as 扶杆 is not actually a word (yet).
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-11T15:58:33.130Z
This is really a moot point. Another point is gan1 is something very long, while gan3 is shorter like 笔杆，枪杆. I think the pole in 地铁 is pretty long, it seems that gan1 make more sense from this perspective.
dan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-11T16:56:22.120Z
There's a different answer from baidu:https://hanyu.baidu.com/zici/s?wd=%E6%A8%AA%E6%9D%86&query=%E6%A8%AA%E6%9D%86%E6%8B%BC%E9%9F%B3&srcid=28204&from=kg1&from=kg1&srcid=&query=%E6%A8%AA%E6%9D%86%E6%8B%BC%E9%9F%B3
dan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-11T17:07:01.693Z
To me, I take the short one as gan3, the long one as gan1. Anyways, this is all opinion based.
dan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-11T14:53:34.207Z
2018-06-11T19:26:48.160Z
2018-06-11T19:26:48.160Z
dROOOze
<p>Some words, such as 一 and 不 change their tone, depending on what tone follows, although when I look in the dictionary, I see only one tone. Maybe this also works in reverse, the word following may 'change its spots' according to the preceding tone. It is strange that the pronunciation is not certain.</p>

<p>In the bus they repeat endlessly: 站稳扶好 to do that we need the 扶杆。</p>

<p>My quick survey of 3 people: all say 扶杆fú gān 扶手横杆fúshǒuhénggān</p>

<p>Baidu has a lot of pretty pictures of 扶杆 <a href="https://image.baidu.com/search/detail?ct=503316480&amp;z=0&amp;ipn=d&amp;word=%E6%89%B6%E6%9D%86&amp;hs=2&amp;pn=0&amp;spn=0&amp;di=188606481690&amp;pi=0&amp;rn=1&amp;tn=baiduimagedetail&amp;is=0%2C0&amp;ie=utf-8&amp;oe=utf-8&amp;cl=2&amp;lm=-1&amp;cs=4076551249%2C371297472&amp;os=3263773997%2C3029711756&amp;simid=3431419140%2C196220748&amp;adpicid=0&amp;lpn=0&amp;ln=30&amp;fr=ala&amp;fm=&amp;sme=&amp;cg=&amp;bdtype=0&amp;oriquery=%E6%89%B6%E6%9D%86&amp;objurl=http%3A%2F%2Fs11.sinaimg.cn%2Forignal%2F5d2eff78g71b1d7c2b21a%26690&amp;fromurl=ippr_z2C%24qAzdH3FAzdH3Fks52_z%26e3Bftgw_z%26e3Bv54_z%26e3BvgAzdH3FfAzdH3Fks52_c1djuu0ba8aaj5uw_z%26e3Bip4s%3Ff71w6ju%3Dooo_z%26e3Bkwt17_z%26e3Bv54&amp;gsm=0&amp;islist=&amp;querylist=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a> so Baidu certainly knows 扶杆 as a word or phrase.</p>

<p>(hand) rail, railing, : a (generally） horizontal or slanting pole<br>
post: vertical pole<br>
bar: either horizontal or vertical pole<br>
banister: 楼梯的扶手，栏杆(lángān) 的支柱  </p>

<p>zdic:
杆gān：较长的棍<br>
杆gǎn：器物上像棍子的细长部分  </p>

<p>我很幸运，苗条如杆，也从不饥饿。<br>
Wǒ hěn xìngyùn, miáotiao rú <strong>gǎn</strong>, yě cóngbù jī'è.<br>
I was lucky, thin as a rail and never hungry. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-12T01:23:07.927Z
2018-06-12T01:23:07.927Z
Pedroski
<p>扶杆 is in three Pleco offered dictionaries. One Chinese to English: KEY. Two Chinese to French: KEY French and Grand Ricci. They all note the same pronunciation:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>fú gān</p>
</blockquote>

<p><em>KEY</em> defines it as:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>handrail</p>
</blockquote>

<p><em>Grand Ricci</em> as:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Poignée</p>
</blockquote>

<p>and <em>KEY French</em> as:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>rampe</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-12T06:02:40.190Z
2018-06-12T06:02:40.190Z
Mou某
<p>According to the definition of <a href="http://www.zdic.net/z/1b/js/6746.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">zdic dictionary</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><strong>杆</strong></p>
  
  <p>gān 　</p>
  
  <p>　◎ 较长的棍：～子（ａ．长棍；ｂ．方言，指揭竿而起的人；ｃ．指结伙抢劫的土匪）。旗～。桅～。电线～。</p>
  
  <p>gǎn 　
  　1. <strong>器物上</strong> 像棍子的细长部分：～秤（区别于台秤等）。笔～儿。～菌。
  　2. 量词，用于有杆的器物：一～笔。一～步枪。</p>
</blockquote>

<p>As we can see, when 杆（gǎn ） means a rod, it should be part of something, like 笔杆，枪杆， etc. Well, 杆（gān ）itself means a long rod. </p>

<p>So, I think both <strong>hénggǎn</strong> and <strong>hénggān</strong> are possible pronunciations for 横杆, depending on contexts. </p>

<p>In this particular context quoted by OP, I tend to believe that 杆 in 扶杆 should be pronounced as <strong>gān</strong> because:</p>

<ol>
<li>it's very long bar that is used within the Metro train.  </li>
<li>people tend to make a reference to the word: 栏杆 lan2gan1.</li>
<li>after checking around, all of my friends(including myself), so far, think it's gān.</li>
</ol>

<p>Also, here is a <a href="http://www.iqiyi.com/v_19rrmn1sks.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">news broadcast</a>. The anchor did pronounce it as <strong>gān</strong>. </p>

<p>Technically, I'm not 100% sure whether it's gǎn or gān, because no dictionary official put the definition of 扶杆. But in practice, <strong>gān</strong> indeed is the common sense for 地铁扶杆 within the mainland at least. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-12T01:09:29.163Z
2018-06-12T01:18:28.637Z
2018-06-12T01:18:28.637Z
dan
<p>According to pleco 杆 in the third tone means shaft or arm, while in the first tone it means pole or staff. 扶杆 is in one of our exercises. It is not contained in any of the pleco  dictionaries I own (PLC, CC, TL, UNI) and seems to mean armrest. I guess it is the third tone.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/CiqlB.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/CiqlB.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>The transcript of the relevant snippet reads:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>坐地铁对我来说也有问题，地铁的扶杆太低，⋯</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-12T03:48:12.143Z
The OP meant the free Pleco dictionary PLC that's included with the app, not paid dictionaries Pleco maintainer licensed from other sources. Next you'll say 汉语大词典 is a Pleco dictionary :D
Vitaly Osipov
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-12T05:18:07.507Z
@user3306356 mind sharing what it says in those dictionaries or write an answer?  I don't have those dictionaries to check, and we don't need an accepted answer that's incorrect.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-12T06:31:09.737Z
@VitalyOsipov The wording, "[i]t is not contained in [P]leco," doesn't explicitly refer to PLC itself, it could be understood in multiple different ways. I often use almost exactly the same wording to mean that none of Pleco's add-ons contain certain words.
Mou某
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-12T07:19:33.007Z
@user3306356 I edited to include the list of my pleco dictionaries
Ludi
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-12T11:48:04.020Z
Can you transcribe the text such that it is more accessible to users?
Frenzy Li
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-12T13:09:51.517Z
@FrenzyLi Done！
Ludi
<tones>
What tone is 杆 in 扶杆？
# What tone is 杆 in 扶杆？

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-06-11)

According to pleco 杆 in the third tone means shaft or arm, while in the first tone it means pole or staff. 扶杆 is in one of our exercises. It is not contained in any of the pleco dictionaries I own (PLC, CC, TL, UNI) and seems to mean armrest. I guess it is the third tone.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/CiqlB.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/CiqlB.jpg)

The transcript of the relevant snippet reads:

> 坐地铁对我来说也有问题，地铁的扶杆太低，⋯

**Tags:** tones

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: The OP meant the free Pleco dictionary PLC that's included with the app, not paid dictionaries Pleco maintainer licensed from other sources. Next you'll say 汉语大词典 is a Pleco dictionary :D  
> **username_2**: @user3306356 mind sharing what it says in those dictionaries or write an answer?  I don't have those dictionaries to check, and we don't need an accepted answer that's incorrect.  
> **username_3**: @username_1 The wording, "[i]t is not contained in [P]leco," doesn't explicitly refer to PLC itself, it could be understood in multiple different ways. I often use almost exactly the same wording to mean that none of Pleco's add-ons contain certain words.  
> **username_0**: @user3306356 I edited to include the list of my pleco dictionaries  
> **username_4**: Can you transcribe the text such that it is more accessible to users?  
> **username_0**: @username_4 Done！  

---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-06-11. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

Let's talk in terms of Traditional Chinese here, which I feel is going to be much clearer.

* 「杆」is *not* pronounced **gǎn**. The valid pronunciations listed in dictionaries are **gàn** and **gān**.
* 「杆」pronounced **gān** means *pole* or *rod*.
* 「桿」is only pronounced **gǎn**, and is a synonym of「杆」when it is pronounced **gān**, in the sense that「桿」can mean *pole* or *rod*.
* 「桿」(**gǎn**) also means *lever* or *handle*.

This is not hard to remember if you consider that「干」is never pronounced in the third tone, and the other common character which uses「旱」as a phonetic component,「趕」(**gǎn**), is also pronounced in the third tone.

Simplified Chinese merged「杆」and「桿」into one character.

---

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/d3IEN.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/d3IEN.png)

The「杆」mentioned in the text is the horizontal bar referenced in the image above (**扶手橫桿**/**扶手横杆**), which should be pronounced **gǎn**. From [Panlex](https://panlex.org/):

* Searching **héng gǎn** or **hénggǎn** results in 横杆 with definitions *cross-bar, rail, overarm*
* Searching **héng gān** turns up no results
* Searching **hénggān** results in 横竿

(You can check Panlex's dictionary sources [here](https://panlex.org/source-list/) by filtering with the key 'cmn'.)

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: @username_5 this might be a bit contentious. No dictionaries (Mainland, Taiwan, HK) I can find lists 扶杆 or 扶桿 as an actual word, which means that it literally means a "gan" that is for support purposes. It's plausible to interpret 杆 in 扶杆 as a shortened version of 欄杆, but without a prescribed reference, 杆 by itself just means *pole* (in traditional Chinese). People have written both 扶杆 and 扶桿, meaning the there's no such set word, and it's up for interpretation, and the most direct interpretation to me is that **gān** means pole and **gǎn** means handle.  
> **username_5**: interestingly enough. I posted this in my We Chat's moments. By now, two people think it's gān, and so far no one votes for gan3.  
> **username_2**: @username_5 this is going to be one of those situations where the most popular support is going to eventually define the pronunciation, as 扶杆 is not actually a word (yet).  
> **username_5**: This is really a moot point. Another point is gan1 is something very long, while gan3 is shorter like 笔杆，枪杆. I think the pole in 地铁 is pretty long, it seems that gan1 make more sense from this perspective.  
> **username_5**: There's a different answer from baidu:https://hanyu.baidu.com/zici/s?wd=%E6%A8%AA%E6%9D%86&query=%E6%A8%AA%E6%9D%86%E6%8B%BC%E9%9F%B3&srcid=28204&from=kg1&from=kg1&srcid=&query=%E6%A8%AA%E6%9D%86%E6%8B%BC%E9%9F%B3  
> **username_5**: To me, I take the short one as gan3, the long one as gan1. Anyways, this is all opinion based.  

---

### Answer by username_6 on 2018-06-12. Score: 1

Some words, such as 一 and 不 change their tone, depending on what tone follows, although when I look in the dictionary, I see only one tone. Maybe this also works in reverse, the word following may 'change its spots' according to the preceding tone. It is strange that the pronunciation is not certain.

In the bus they repeat endlessly: 站稳扶好 to do that we need the 扶杆。

My quick survey of 3 people: all say 扶杆fú gān 扶手横杆fúshǒuhénggān

Baidu has a lot of pretty pictures of 扶杆 [here](https://image.baidu.com/search/detail?ct=503316480&z=0&ipn=d&word=%E6%89%B6%E6%9D%86&hs=2&pn=0&spn=0&di=188606481690&pi=0&rn=1&tn=baiduimagedetail&is=0%2C0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&cl=2&lm=-1&cs=4076551249%2C371297472&os=3263773997%2C3029711756&simid=3431419140%2C196220748&adpicid=0&lpn=0&ln=30&fr=ala&fm=&sme=&cg=&bdtype=0&oriquery=%E6%89%B6%E6%9D%86&objurl=http%3A%2F%2Fs11.sinaimg.cn%2Forignal%2F5d2eff78g71b1d7c2b21a%26690&fromurl=ippr_z2C%24qAzdH3FAzdH3Fks52_z%26e3Bftgw_z%26e3Bv54_z%26e3BvgAzdH3FfAzdH3Fks52_c1djuu0ba8aaj5uw_z%26e3Bip4s%3Ff71w6ju%3Dooo_z%26e3Bkwt17_z%26e3Bv54&gsm=0&islist=&querylist=) so Baidu certainly knows 扶杆 as a word or phrase.

(hand) rail, railing, : a (generally） horizontal or slanting pole  
post: vertical pole  
bar: either horizontal or vertical pole  
banister: 楼梯的扶手，栏杆(lángān) 的支柱

zdic:
杆gān：较长的棍  
杆gǎn：器物上像棍子的细长部分

我很幸运，苗条如杆，也从不饥饿。  
Wǒ hěn xìngyùn, miáotiao rú **gǎn**, yě cóngbù jī'è.  
I was lucky, thin as a rail and never hungry.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2018-06-12. Score: 1

扶杆 is in three Pleco offered dictionaries. One Chinese to English: KEY. Two Chinese to French: KEY French and Grand Ricci. They all note the same pronunciation:

> fú gān

*KEY* defines it as:

> handrail

*Grand Ricci* as:

> Poignée

and *KEY French* as:

> rampe


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2018-06-12. Score: 1

According to the definition of [zdic dictionary](http://www.zdic.net/z/1b/js/6746.htm):

> **杆**
>
> gān
>
> 　◎ 较长的棍：～子（ａ．长棍；ｂ．方言，指揭竿而起的人；ｃ．指结伙抢劫的土匪）。旗～。桅～。电线～。
>
> gǎn 　
> 　1. **器物上** 像棍子的细长部分：～秤（区别于台秤等）。笔～儿。～菌。
> 　2. 量词，用于有杆的器物：一～笔。一～步枪。

As we can see, when 杆（gǎn ） means a rod, it should be part of something, like 笔杆，枪杆， etc. Well, 杆（gān ）itself means a long rod.

So, I think both **hénggǎn** and **hénggān** are possible pronunciations for 横杆, depending on contexts.

In this particular context quoted by OP, I tend to believe that 杆 in 扶杆 should be pronounced as **gān** because:

1. it's very long bar that is used within the Metro train.
2. people tend to make a reference to the word: 栏杆 lan2gan1.
3. after checking around, all of my friends(including myself), so far, think it's gān.

Also, here is a [news broadcast](http://www.iqiyi.com/v_19rrmn1sks.html). The anchor did pronounce it as **gān**.

Technically, I'm not 100% sure whether it's gǎn or gān, because no dictionary official put the definition of 扶杆. But in practice, **gān** indeed is the common sense for 地铁扶杆 within the mainland at least.


---

