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Pekingese

Pekingese

3 6.8
A small dog from China with long silky fur, short legs, and a flat face
  • noun
  • /ˌpiːkɪˈniːz/
: pekingés
  • Fifi is a Pekingese.
  • Pekingese dog
  • walking a Pekingese
  • little Pekingese

Examples

  • Pekingese, lost in Highland Park area.

  • As they entered the house, out ran Chewy, the babysitter's tiny new Pekingese.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • Now, imagine that the Pekingese were able to talk to you!

    Fiction book (1994)
  • I got a date with a Pekingese on Park Avenue.

  • "The Pekingese has its own distinctive bark.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • I immediately got busy trying to think of a great costume for Marley and my sister's little Pekingese, Sweetie.

    Blog text (6)
  • She was surrounded by pale, decorative young French guests, one of them carrying two Pekingese in his arms.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • One spring evening in 1979, in the city of Los Angeles, Mrs. O. Watanabe was walking her Pekingese down a street of well-appointed homes.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • All dogs can suffer from problems with their backs and develop issues due to severe trauma or disease, but the dachshund, as well as the Pekingese and the Poodle, has a certain predisposition to disc problems.

    Blog text (26)
  • Fifi is a small dog breed known as a Pekingese, famous for its long silky coat and flat muzzle.

Synonyms

Pekinese
vsPekingese
1 5.9

A small Chinese dog with short legs, long silky hair, and a flat face

is the standard spelling preferred over this variant
Peke
vsPekingese
1 8.8

A small dog with short legs, long silky fur and a flat face

is the formal breed name rather than the informal short form

Surface Forms

Pekingese singular
Pekingeses plural

Morphology

Pekingese = Peking (semi-transparent) = Peking + ese

Formally built from the place name 'Peking' + the demonym/adjectival suffix '-ese'; while the origin is clear, the specific sense 'a breed of dog' is a named-of-origin use that may not be predictable to all learners.

Etymology

Pekingese comes from Peking, the old English name for Beijing, plus the ending -ese, which means 'from' a place, just like in Japanese. So a Pekingese is literally 'from Peking', which explains why this small, long-haired dog breed comes from China.