Link Centre Dictionary

Chinese

chi·nese

UK/t͡ʃaɪˈniːz/ US/ˈt͡ʃaɪniːz/ common uk
adjective (2) noun (2)

adjective

1.

of or relating to the people or culture or language of Friesland or Frisia

2.

of or relating to or characteristic of the island republic on Taiwan or its residents or their language

  • “the Taiwanese capital is Taipeh”
Synonyms

noun

1.

any of the Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in China; regarded as dialects of a single language (even though they are mutually unintelligible) because they share an ideographic writing system

2.

Origin

From China + -ese under influence of Portuguese chinês, replacing older Chinish. Doublet of chinois. In its orientalist sense of "generically exotic, backwards, or poorly organized", sometimes a deliberate marketing strategy to increase sales, as with the German Chinese checkers. In its sense related to the orientation of stage lighting's barn doors, a reference to a supposed resemblance to East Asian eyes.

Phrases

  • Chinese abacus
  • Chinese ace
  • Chinese alchemy
  • Chinese alligator
  • Chinese American
  • Chinese anemone
  • Chinese angelica
  • Chinese angelica tree
  • Wiktionary’s coverage of Chinese terms

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Pertaining to

Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.