CHINESE
Dictionary entry overview: What does Chinese mean?
• CHINESE (noun)
The noun CHINESE has 2 senses:
1. any of the Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in China; regarded as dialects of a single language (even though they are mutually unintelligible) because they share an ideographic writing system
2. a native or inhabitant of Communist China or of Nationalist China
Familiarity information: CHINESE used as a noun is rare.
• CHINESE (adjective)
The adjective CHINESE has 2 senses:
1. of or pertaining to China or its peoples or cultures
2. of or relating to or characteristic of the island republic on Taiwan or its residents or their language
Familiarity information: CHINESE used as an adjective is rare.
Dictionary entry details
• CHINESE (noun)
Meaning:
Any of the Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in China; regarded as dialects of a single language (even though they are mutually unintelligible) because they share an ideographic writing system
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("Chinese" is a kind of...):
Sinitic; Sinitic language (a group of Sino-Tibetan languages)
Domain region:
China; Communist China; mainland China; People's Republic of China; PRC; Red China (a communist nation that covers a vast territory in eastern Asia; the most populous country in the world)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Chinese"):
Beijing dialect; Mandarin; Mandarin Chinese; Mandarin dialect (the dialect of Chinese spoken in Beijing and adopted as the official language for all of China)
Shanghai dialect; Wu; Wu dialect (a dialect of Chinese spoken in the Yangtze delta)
Cantonese; Cantonese dialect; Yue; Yue dialect (the dialect of Chinese spoken in Canton and neighboring provinces and in Hong Kong and elsewhere outside China)
Amoy; Fukien; Fukkianese; Hokkianese; Min; Min dialect; Taiwanese (any of the forms of Chinese spoken in Fukien province)
Hakka; Hakka dialect (a dialect of Chinese spoken in southeastern China by the Hakka)
Meaning:
A native or inhabitant of Communist China or of Nationalist China
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("Chinese" is a kind of...):
Asian; Asiatic (a native or inhabitant of Asia)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Chinese"):
Hakka (a member of a people of southeastern China (especially Hong Kong, Canton, and Taiwan) who migrated from the north in the 12th century)
Boxer (a member of a nationalistic Chinese secret society that led an unsuccessful rebellion in 1900 against foreign interests in China)
Chinaman; chink (offensive terms for a person of Chinese descent)
mandarin (a high public official of imperial China)
Holonyms ("Chinese" is a member of...):
China; Nationalist China; Republic of China; Taiwan (a government on the island of Taiwan established in 1949 by Chiang Kai-shek after the conquest of mainland China by the communists led by Mao Zedong)
China; Communist China; mainland China; People's Republic of China; PRC; Red China (a communist nation that covers a vast territory in eastern Asia; the most populous country in the world)
• CHINESE (adjective)
Meaning:
Of or pertaining to China or its peoples or cultures
Classified under:
Relational adjectives (pertainyms)
Context example:
Chinese food
Pertainym:
China (a government on the island of Taiwan established in 1949 by Chiang Kai-shek after the conquest of mainland China by the communists led by Mao Zedong)
Meaning:
Of or relating to or characteristic of the island republic on Taiwan or its residents or their language
Classified under:
Relational adjectives (pertainyms)
Synonyms:
Formosan; Taiwanese; Chinese
Context example:
the Taiwanese capital is Taipeh
