Word.ws English Dictionary

amban

amban noun: a Chinese official under the Qing Dynasty, especially the ranking official or provincial governor in a semi-independent territory under Chinese rule.

Noun

amban (plural ambans or ambasa)

  1. (historical) A Chinese official under the Qing Dynasty, especially the ranking official or provincial governor in a semi-independent territory under Chinese rule.
    • Regarding the scene before him with the calmness of a stoic, sits the grey-bearded old Ambân in his chair of state, quietly smoking a long pipe, while beside him kneel his weeping daughters, all conscious of their coming fate.1869, George W. Hayward, “Journey from Leh to Yarkand and Kashgar”, in Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, volume XL
    • In 1846 Messrs. Huc and Gabet, two French Lazarist Fathers, visited Lhasa from the north, and stayed two and a half months, when they were expelled through the influence of the Chinese Amban.1924, Charles Bell, Tibet Past and Present, Delhi, published 2000, page 46

Forms of amban

pluralambans
pluralambasa

Origin of amban

Borrowed from Manchu ᠠᠮᠪᠠᠨ (amban).

Questions about amban

What does amban mean?
Amban means a Chinese official under the Qing Dynasty, especially the ranking official or provincial governor in a semi-independent territory under Chinese rule.
What part of speech is amban?
Amban is a noun.
What is the plural of amban?
The plural of amban is ambans.

Words near amban in the dictionary

  1. ambalamas
  2. ambalams
  3. Ambalavasi
  4. Ambalika
  5. ambals
  6. amban
  7. Ambangonan
  8. Ambani
  9. Ambanis
  10. ambans
  11. ambar

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: amban (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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