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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

Chinese.

Of, from, or related to China, particularly now the People's Republic of China.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/t͡ʃaɪˈniːz/UK/ˈt͡ʃaɪniːz/UK/ˌt͡ʃaɪˈniz/US/ˈt͡ʃaɪˌniz/US
  1. Of, from, or related to China, particularly now the People's Republic of China.

    not-comparable · usually
    China has been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party since 1949.
  2. Of, from, or related to the people of China, particularly the Han Chinese and their culture whether in China or overseas.

    not-comparable · usually
    Important Chinese holidays celebrated around the world include the Chinese New Year ("Spring Festival"), Tomb Sweeping Day, and the Mid-Autumn Festival.
  3. Of, from, or related to a language native to Han Chinese persons, often used generally of Chinese characters or particularly to refer to Standard Mandarin.

    not-comparable · usually
    There are four Chinese tones... five, if you count the neutral one.
  4. As exotic, unusual, backwards, or unorganized as someone or something from China.

    not-comparable · offensive · sometimes · usually
    It's all Chinese to me.
  5. Used with a noun to indicate a referent different from, and seemingly more exotic or unusual than, the base noun's referent.

    not-comparable · offensive · sometimes · usually
  6. Having barn doors with a horizontal orientation.

    dated · not-comparable · offensive · usually
Where this word comes from

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.

name/t͡ʃaɪˈniːz/UK/ˈt͡ʃaɪniːz/UK/ˌt͡ʃaɪˈniz/US/ˈt͡ʃaɪˌniz/US
  1. The Standard Chinese language, written in Chinese characters and spoken and spelled using Standard Mandarin pronunciation.

    uncountable
    你好 is read “Nǐ hǎo” and means “Hello” in Chinese.
  2. The branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family including Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, Southern Min, and other closely related language varieties and dialects.

    uncountable
    Suzhounese and Hakka are lesser-known varieties of Chinese.
  3. The logographic writing system shared by most Sinitic languages.

    uncountable
    Hong Kong still uses traditional Chinese.
Where this word comes from

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.

noun/t͡ʃaɪˈniːz/UK/ˈt͡ʃaɪniːz/UK/ˌt͡ʃaɪˈniz/US/ˈt͡ʃaɪˌniz/US
  1. A native, inhabitant, or citizen of China, particularly of the People's Republic of China.

    countable · in-plural
    The Chinese have an incredible history.
  2. A member of the Han Chinese ethnic group, whether in China or overseas.

    countable · in-plural
    The Chinese are present in all parts of the world.
  3. Ellipsis of Chinese cuisine.

    abbreviation · alt-of · ellipsis · uncountable
    Please don't eat the Chinese. I'm saving it for later.
  4. Ellipsis of Chinese meal (“meal consisting of Chinese cuisine”).

    UK · abbreviation · alt-of · colloquial · countable · ellipsis
    We're going out tonight for a Chinese.
  5. Ellipsis of Chinese restaurant (“restaurant serving Chinese cuisine”).

    UK · abbreviation · alt-of · colloquial · countable · ellipsis
    Want to go to the Chinese after work?
Where this word comes from

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.

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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.