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Chinese

Chinese

1.4
About China, its people, language, or culture
  • adjective
  • /ˈtʃaɪniːz/
translation icon : chino
  • Do you happen to like Chinese food?
  • Chinese government
  • Chinese immigrants
  • Chinese officials

This is the first Chinese fast food in America.

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Examples

  • You know, he educated the world on Chinese culture, martial arts, right?

  • Unfortunately, Trump put tariffs on Chinese imports of solar panels.

  • This is the first Chinese fast food in America.

  • I take this walk down to the corner to the Chinese restaurant.

  • The artist stated that he had forgotten how to write his own name in Chinese characters.

    Academic text (2011)
  • This is a very famous Chinese game, Mahjong.

  • We're sitting at a booth in a Chinese restaurant in Burnie.

  • The place wasn't traditionally Chinese, of course, but nor was it truly American.

    Academic text (2011)
  • By my calculations, the Chinese border is 2,058 kilometers away.

  • Do you happen to like Chinese food?

Synonyms

Sinic
vsChinese
8.9

Relating to China or Chinese culture

is the everyday term for the country's language, people, and culture
Sinitic
vsChinese
  • Specialized
9.9

About the Chinese people, their language, and their culture

is broader and applies to the country, all its people, language, and culture
chinois
vsChinese
8.6

In Chinese style used in art or decoration

is the general term for the country, its people, language, and culture

Idioms

Very difficult for people to understand or do

A person who has many chins because they gained weight

Compounds

A board game on a star with six points where players move marbles to the opposite point

The main form of Chinese spoken in Beijing and used as China's official language

1 1.3

A meal of Chinese dishes like rice, vegetables, and meat

A 1911 revolution that ended the Qing dynasty and created the Republic of China

A decorative paper light that folds and glows when lit for festivals

A very hot sauce made from ground seeds used with Chinese food

1 4.1

A fast-growing tree from Asia with small leaves often planted for shade or as a garden tree

Chinese Wall
  • Jargon
1 8.9

A rule to keep people in different teams from sharing secret information to avoid conflicts of interest

A vegetable with long pale green leaves and thick white stalks used in Asian cooking

A very complicated object with boxes inside boxes that is hard to open

A group of symptoms like headache and tingling after eating food with MSG

1 3.4

A very long stone wall built across northern China to keep out attackers

Chinese whisper
  • Offensive
1 7.5

A game where people whisper a message along a line and it often changes

A dish of cooked rice quickly fried with egg, green onions and meat or shrimp

A large farm goose from China with a prominent knob on its bill

3.5

A small fuzzy brown fruit with sour green flesh called kiwifruit

3.0

A climbing vine that produces fuzzy brown fruit called kiwifruit

A large bush or small tree with bright red flowers grown for gardens

A dense rounded bush with spiny leaves often grown in gardens

Chinese home run
  • Informal
9.0

A surprising and very large success

A dark red fruit like a plum with sweet flesh often eaten fresh or dried

A small tree from China and Japan that makes a poisonous sap used to make a hard shiny coating

A plant with bright orange, papery, lantern-shaped coverings around its small fruit

A small tree with large pink or purple flowers grown in gardens

Chinese math
  • Informal
9.9

A task that seems very difficult to understand, like hard math

A unit of money that people use in China, like the yuan

A small white mushroom with long thin stems used in Asian cooking

A leafy plant from Asia with spicy leaves used as a vegetable or seasoning

Working extra hours without extra pay as a regular part of the job

Chinese algebra
  • Archaic
9.9

Something very difficult to understand, like a hard math problem

Chinese alligator
  • Specialized
8.5

A small alligator that lives in China's Yangtze valley and has toes without webbing

A plant from China whose root is used in traditional medicine and cooking

A small tree from China grown for its pretty flowers and used in medicine

A small tree from China that has star-shaped pods used as a spice

A star-shaped spice pod with a strong sweet smell used in cooking

A mushroom from East Asia used in cooking with a dark cap and a tough, inedible stem

A dark, salty sauce made with soy sauce and broth and used on Chinese dishes

A vegetable with thin stalks and a strong flavor used in Asian cooking

A tree from China and Korea that makes small sweet nuts you can eat

A herb with flat leaves and a mild onion taste used in Asian cooking

A spice made from the bark of the cassia tree with a strong, warm flavor

A medium to large tree from China, Japan, and Korea with thick corky bark

A small dark red fruit like a plum that is sweet, chewy, and often dried

Chinese deity
  • Literature
9.8

A god or goddess from Chinese myths that people worship

A plant with large green or patterned leaves that grows well in low light indoors

A small plant that lives for two years and makes bright blue flowers

Chinese paddlefish
  • Specialized
8.4

A large freshwater fish from the Yangtze River with a long paddle-shaped snout

Chinese parasol
  • Specialized
9.5

A tree from China with large maple-like leaves and leaflike pods

Chinese parasol tree
  • Specialized
9.1

A tree from Asia with large maple-like leaves, yellow-green flower clusters, and seed pods that look like leaves

A green herb with flat leaves used to add fresh flavor to food

A shrub from northern China with dark green shiny leaves and pale yellow flowers grown in gardens

A small flowering plant from China that people grow in gardens for its bright flowers

An evergreen shrub or small tree with pointed leaves and white flowers often grown in gardens

A vivid red with a slight orange tone often used in traditional Chinese art

A large plant from China with a root people use as a strong laxative

A tree that loses its leaves and has dark green leaf groups and creamy-white fragrant flowers

A tree from China and Japan that loses its leaves and has dark green leaves and fragrant white flower clusters

Chinese Shan
  • Specialized
9.9

A language spoken in southwest Yunnan, China, by the Shan people

A tall plant from tropical Asia that people grow for strong fiber like flax from its woody stems

A water plant with small crunchy bulbs eaten in Chinese cooking

A slow, very annoying experience that makes you feel anxious, like drops falling again and again

Chinese white
  • Specialized
8.1

A strong white paint used to make colours lighter in paintings and drawings

A leafy vegetable with white stalks and dark green leaves used in Asian cooking

A climbing vine with deep purple, fragrant hanging flowers

Chinese wood oil
  • Specialized
8.9

A yellow liquid from tung tree seeds that dries quickly and protects wood

A climbing plant with shiny heart-shaped leaves and edible roots

A California plant with white and pale purple flowers that grow in rings around the stem like a small tower

Surface Forms

Chinese positive

Morphology

Chinese = China (transparent) = China + ese

Formed from the country name 'China' plus the productive suffix '-ese' yielding an adjective/demonym whose meaning is predictable for learners.

Etymology

Chinese comes from the name China, which itself comes from Qin, a powerful ruling family long ago whose name was said like 'Chin'. So Chinese means 'from China' and is used for things, people, or the language of that country.