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China.

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.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

name/ˈt͡ʃaɪnə/UK, US[ˈt͡ʃ(ʰ)aɪ̯nə]UK, US
  1. 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.

    uncountable · usually
    China has 5000 years of history.
  2. A large country in East Asia, occupying the region around the Yellow, Yangtze, and Pearl Rivers; the People's Republic of China, since 1949.

    uncountable · usually
    China is 75 years old as of October 1, 2024.
  3. Synonym of mainland China.

    uncountable · usually
    The gambling winnings were transferred from Macau to China.
  4. China in One China, asserting that there is only one de jure Chinese nation

    uncountable · usually
    It will not change the historical and legal facts that there is only one China in the world.
  5. 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 · uncountable · usually
  6. 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).

    historical · uncountable · usually
  7. A female given name.

    rare · uncountable · usually
  8. A place in the United States: An unincorporated community in Jefferson County, Indiana, United States.

    uncountable · usually
  9. A place in the United States: A town in Kennebec County, Maine, United States.

    uncountable · usually
  10. A place in the United States: An unincorporated community in Howell County, Missouri, United States.

    uncountable · usually
  11. A place in the United States: A hamlet in Delaware County, New York, United States.

    uncountable · usually
  12. A place in the United States: A small city in Jefferson County, Texas, United States.

    uncountable · usually
  13. A municipality and town in Nuevo León, Mexico.

    uncountable · usually
  14. A surname.

    uncountable · usually
Where this word comes from

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 From Portuguese China, from possibly Venetan Cina probably under influence from Old French Chin, 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, but other theories have been proposed, including derivation from 晉 /晋 (jìn) (sm Jìn, mc t͡sinh, oc *tsiŋh, "Jin"), another important ancient state; 荊 /荆 (jīng) (sm Jīng, mc kɹaŋ, oc *kreŋ, "Chu"), the southernmost ancient Chinese state; or Zina, the endonym of the people of the Yelang kingdom. 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.

noun/ˈt͡ʃaɪnə/UK, US[ˈt͡ʃ(ʰ)aɪ̯nə]UK, US
  1. Alternative letter-case form of china: porcelain tableware.

    alt-of · countable · uncountable
  2. A Chinese person.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  3. Alternative form of cheyney: woollen stuff; items made or filled with cheyney.

    alt-of · alternative · countable · obsolete · uncountable
  4. Clipping of China rose, various flowers.

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping · countable · uncountable
  5. Clipping of China tea.

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping · countable · uncountable
  6. Alternative form of china: a mate, a friend.

    alt-of · alternative · countable · slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

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 From Portuguese China, from possibly Venetan Cina probably under influence from Old French Chin, 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, but other theories have been proposed, including derivation from 晉 /晋 (jìn) (sm Jìn, mc t͡sinh, oc *tsiŋh, "Jin"), another important ancient state; 荊 /荆 (jīng) (sm Jīng, mc kɹaŋ, oc *kreŋ, "Chu"), the southernmost ancient Chinese state; or Zina, the endonym of the people of the Yelang kingdom. 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.

name/tʃi.nɑː/
  1. A town in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan.

Where this word comes from

From Japanese 知名(ちな) (China).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.