China

Legend:
1= Turkey 2= Georgia 3= Azerbaijan 4= Armenia 5= Syria 6= Lebanon 7= Cyprus 8= Israel 9= Jordan 10= Saudi Arabia 11= Yemen 12= Oman 13= United Arab Emirates 14= Qatar 15= Bahrain 16= Kuwait	17= Iraq 18= Iran 19= Turkmenistan 20= Uzbekistan 21= Kazakhstan 22= Kyrgyzstan 23= Tajikistan 24= Afghanistan 25= Pakistan 26= India 27= Sri Lanka 28= Maldives 29= Nepal 30= Bhutan 31= Bangladesh 32= Myanmar	33= Thailand 34= Malaysia 35= Singapore 36= Indonesia 37= Timor-Leste 38= Brunei 39= Philippines 40= Cambodia 41= Vietnam 42= Laos 43= China 44= South Korea 45= North Korea 46= Japan 47= Mongolia 48= Russia

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Old Chinese 秦 (*zin)der.?

Sanskrit चीन (cīna)der.

Gandhari 𐨕𐨁𐨣 (cina)der.?

Middle Persian 𐭰𐭩𐭭 (cyn /⁠čīn⁠/)

Classical Persian چین (čēn)bor.

Venetan Cinabor.

Old French Chininflu.

Portuguese Chinabor.

English China

English Wikipedia has an article on:

China

Wikipedia

Wikimedia Commons has media about:

China

From Portuguese China,^[1]^[2] from possibly Venetan Cina probably under influence from Old French Chin,^[3] from Classical Persian چین (čīn) under influence from Medieval Latin Sīna (“China”), from Middle Persian 𐭰𐭩𐭭 (Čīn, “China”), from Sanskrit चीन (cīna, “the Chinese; China”) of uncertain etymology. It is usually thought to be derived from Chinese 秦 (Qín) (sm Qín, mc d͡zin, oc *dziŋ, "Qin"), the westernmost ancient Chinese state,^[4]^[5]^[6] but other theories have been proposed, including derivation from 晉 / 晋 (jìn) (sm Jìn, mc t͡sinh, oc *tsiŋh, "Jin"), another important ancient state;^[7] 荊 / 荆 (jīng) (sm Jīng, mc kɹaŋ, oc *kreŋ, "Chu"), the southernmost ancient Chinese state;^[8] or Zina, the endonym of the people of the Yelang kingdom.^[8] See "Names of China" and "Chinas" at Wikipedia. As a female name, usually derived via china (“porcelain”) and china doll, ultimately from the same source.

Alternative forms

(area and state in East Asia): Chin (obsolete)
(female name): Chyna

Pronunciation

(UK, US) enPR: chī'nə, IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃaɪnə/, [ˈt͡ʃ(ʰ)aɪ̯nə]
enPR: chīʹnu̇^[9]
- Audio (UK): (file)
- Audio (US, female voice): (file)
- Audio (US, male voice): (file)
Rhymes: -aɪnə

Proper noun

China (usually uncountable, plural Chinas)

A cultural region and civilization in East Asia, occupying the region around the Yellow, Yangtze, and Pearl Rivers, taken as a whole under its various dynasties.
China has 5000 years of history.
- 1555, Peter Martyr, translated by Richard Eden, The Decades of the Newe Worlde..., folio 230 verso:
  The great China, whose kyng is thought... the greatest prince in the worlde.
- 1693, Robert Morden, “Of China”, in Geography Rectified; or a Description of the World‎^[5], 3rd edition, →OCLC, page 438:
  All China is divided into 15 Provinces, which are bigger than large Kingdoms.
- 1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC:
  If he tells them to build a palace forty miles long, out of di'monds, and fill it full of chewing gum, or whatever you want, and fetch an emperor's daughter from China for you to marry, they've got to do it—and they've got to do it before sun-up next morning, too.
A large country in East Asia, occupying the region around the Yellow, Yangtze, and Pearl Rivers; the People's Republic of China, since 1949.
- 1971 December 6, “A Size-up of President Nixon: Interview with Mike Mansfield, Senate Democratic Leader”, in US News & World Report, page 61:
  'Only a Nixon' Could Go to China
- 2017, Donald J. Trump, speech at Make America Great Again Rally, Harrisburg, PA
  And I met with the President of China at great length in Florida, and we had long, long talks—hours and hours and hours.
China is 75 years old as of October 1, 2024.
- 2025 February 1, Kevin Liptak, “With stiff tariffs he promised now in place, Trump opens a new trade war”, in CNN‎^[6], archived from the original on 24 April 2025:
  Saturday’s tariffs are unlikely to be Trump’s last. The president said himself said in the Oval Office that additional tariffs could come by mid-February on chips, pharmaceuticals, steel, aluminum, copper, oil and gas imports – along with tariffs on the European Union – all threats that few would discount given his willingness to follow through on the North American and China tariffs on Saturday.
Synonym of mainland China.
The gambling winnings were transferred from Macau to China.
China in One China, asserting that there is only one de jure Chinese nation
It will not change the historical and legal facts that there is only one China in the world.
(historical) Any of the empires occupying similar territory to that of the modern nation of China, ruled under various dynasties up through the early 20th century.
(historical) The Republic of China prior to 1949, and sometimes after that time, particularly up through the early 1970's or so (when the People's Republic of China assumed the United Nations seat allocated to China).
(rare) A female given name.
- 2001, Susan Wittig Albert, chapter 1, in Bloodroot, Berkley Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 3:
  My name is China Bayles. I'm the owner of Thyme and Seasons and the co-owner, with Ruby Wilcox, of a new tearoom called Thyme for Tea.
- 2014, Neil D. A. Stewart, The Glasgow Coma Scale, Constable & Robinson, →ISBN, page 159:
  'What's her name, this girl?' The fight had hoarsened Lynne's voice, and the words came out strangely staccato - a wooden doll that had just learned to speak.
  'China,' he mumbled, feeling an obscure desire to invent a pseudonym for her.
  'What an interesting name.'
  Angus struck the table edge hard. 'Aw, don't gies it.'
  'I don't know what you mean. Or is it a nickname? Fragile, is she?'
A place in the United States:
1. An unincorporated community in Jefferson County, Indiana, United States.
2. A town in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. ^[10]
  - 1991 December 8, Nancy Lyon, “Quebec's Cuisine Has a New Flavor”, in The New York Times‎^[7], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
    The golden baked pâté chinois, a shepherd's pie, uses a recipe brought back to Quebec by miners working in China, Me.
    (Can we archive this URL?)
3. An unincorporated community in Howell County, Missouri, United States.
4. A hamlet in Delaware County, New York, United States.
5. A small city in Jefferson County, Texas, United States.
A municipality and town in Nuevo León, Mexico.
A surname.

An 1844 map of China (i.e., the Qing Empire), including Taiwan, Mongolia, Korea, outer Manchuria (now Russian), and Assam in India.
A 1932 map of the Far East, showing China (i.e., China proper) without Manchuria, Mongolia (i.e., Greater Mongolia), "Sinkiang", "Tibit", or Japanese Taiwan.
A map of the divisions of the Republic of China in 1944, from the American propaganda film Why We Fight: The Battle of China.
The CIA's 2008 map of China, showing the PRC's claim on Taiwan (but not the South China Sea) and India's claim on the PRC (but not China's on Arunachal Pradesh).
A 2002 map of the railways of China, showing the PRC and ROC's nine-dash claim in the South China Sea. Both Chinas also claim the "Diaoyu" Islands, currently administered as Japan's Senkakus.

Synonyms

(nation): Cathay (northern medieval China, archaic); Manji, Mangi (southern medieval China, archaic); Han (culture); Greater China (inclusive of Taiwan, non-Han autonomous regions, and the SARs but not always all Chinese claims); Chinkland (pejorative); Sinim (some religious contexts)
(state): Middle Kingdom (literary), Chinese Empire; Celestial Kingdom, Flowery Kingdom (archaic); Zhongguo (rare)
(principal states at different periods): Xia, Shang, Zhou (kingdoms); Qin, Han, Jin, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing, Chinese Empire, Empire of China (empires); Warring States, Three Kingdoms (regions); Republic of China or Chinese Republic, People's Republic of China or Chinese People's Republic

Meronyms

provinces of Chinaedit

Derived terms

Related terms

Sino-

Descendants

→ Amharic: ቻይና (čayna)
→ Chinese: 拆那 (Chāinà)/猜拿 (Cāiná)
→ Hindi: चाइना (cāinā)
→ Japanese: チャイナ
→ Māori: Haina
→ Telugu: చైనా (cainā)
→ Tigre: ቻይና (čayna)
→ Tigrinya: ቻይና (čayna)
→ Tokelauan: Haina
→ Ulithian: Chaaeynae
→ Welsh: Tsieina
→ Yoruba: Ṣáínà

Translations

See China/translations § Proper noun.

Statistics

According to the 2010 United States Census, China is the 29138^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 813 individuals. China is most common among Black/African-American (48.46%), White (17.47%), Hispanic (14.51%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (13.53%) individuals.

Noun

China (countable and uncountable, plural Chinas)

Alternative letter-case form of china: porcelain tableware.
(obsolete) A Chinese person.
(obsolete) Alternative form of cheyney: woollen stuff; items made or filled with cheyney.
Clipping of China rose, various flowers.
(botany, beverages) Clipping of China tea.
(rhyming slang) Alternative form of china: a mate, a friend.

Etymology 2

English Wikipedia has an article on:

China, Kagoshima

Wikipedia

From Japanese 知名(ちな) (China).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /tʃi.nɑː/

Proper noun

China

A town in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan.
- 2022 December 24, “School on Japan island lends electric scooters to students for eco-friendly, cheap commute”, in The Mainichi‎^[8]:
  According to the town of China, if all students commuting by motorcycles switched to electric ones, carbon emissions could be reduced to under one-fourth of the current amount.
- 2024 August 21, “Linguists rush to preserve rare dialect on remote Kagoshima isle”, in The Asahi Shinbun‎^[9]:
  The two towns on the island, China (pronounced chee-nah) and Wadomari, along with neighboring Tokunoshima island, each have different dialects.

References

^ Duarte Barbosa, Descrição das Terras da India Oriental..., c. 1516.
^ Garcia de Orta, Colóquios dos Simples e Drogas da India, 1563.
^ Marco Polo & al., Divisiment dou Monde, c. 1298.
^ Dr M. R. Singh (1972), Geographical Data in Early Puranas, page 172
^ Mayrhofer, Manfred (2001), “cīna-”, in Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen [Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan]‎^[1] (in German), volume 3, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, page 191
^ Yule, Henry (2005), Cathay and the Way Thither‎^[2], →ISBN, pages 2–3
^ Zhengzhang, Shangfang (鄭張尚芳) (2006), “古译名勘原辨讹五例 [A Correction of the Erroneous Etymological Analyses of Five Ancient Translated Names]”, in 中国语文 (in Chinese), volume 315, →ISSN, pages 541–549
↑ ^8.0 ^8.1 Wade Geoff (2009-05), “The Polity of Yelang and the Origin of the Name 'China'”, in Sino-Platonic Papers‎^[3], number 188
^ Leon E. Seltzer, editor (1952), “China”, in The Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World‎^[4], Morningside Heights, NY: Columbia University Press, →OCLC, page 396, column 2
^ TopoZone: China, Maine

“China, n.¹ and adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.

Anagrams

hican, Chi-an, chain, Chain, Chian, Anich, Achin