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Glite Dictionary
👤 A Chinese man 🏏 A spin ball
Chinaman

Chinaman

1 9.9
A ball bowled by a left-arm spinner that spins into a right-handed batsman
  • noun
  • Jargon
: chinaman
  • The left-arm bowler's chinaman was so effective that it easily foxed the right-handed batsman.

Examples

  • During the match, he surprised everyone with a perfect chinaman that took the wicket.

  • But we've heard good things about this 'Chinaman' that your uncle found

    The Big Brawl (1980)

  • The bowler delivered a chinaman that left the batsman confused as it spun past him.

Surface Forms

Chinaman singular
Chinamen plural

Morphology

Chinaman = China + man (opaque) = China + man

Although the form is a clear compound of 'China' and 'man', that structure does not allow a learner to infer the specialized cricket meaning of a left-arm unorthodox spinning delivery.

Etymology

Chinaman in cricket is the name for a 'left‑arm' spinning ball that turns the other way and surprises a right‑handed batsman. One popular story says the name came from a bowler of Chinese background whose unusual delivery made the term stick, which is why it now means that special spin.