china

Noun (1)

china (countable and uncountable, plural chinas)

1. (uncountable) Synonym of porcelain, a hard white translucent ceramic made from kaolin, now (chiefly US) sometimes distinguished in reference to tableware as fine or good china.
   • It's a china doll.

   Synonyms:

   porcelain

2. (uncountable) Chinaware: porcelain tableware.
   • They sell Callicoes, Cheney Sattin, Cheney ware.1634, Thomas Herbert, A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, page 41
   • ...a Present of certain very rich Pieces of China.1653, Henry Cogan translating Fernão Mendes Pinto as The Voyages and Adventures of Fernand Mendez Pinto, p. 206
3. (US, dated, uncountable) Cheaper and lower-quality ceramic and ceramic tableware, distinguished from porcelain.
   • What is porcelain? A fine earthenware differing from china in being harder, whiter, harder to fuse and more translucent than ordinary pottery.1921 May 11, “Edison Questions Stir Up a Storm”, in New York Times
4. (uncountable) Synonym of China root, the root of Smilax china (particularly) as a medicine.
   • China, saith Manardus, makes a good colour in the face, takes away melancholy, and all infirmities proceeding from cold […].1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II...

   Synonyms:

   China root

5. (obsolete, uncountable) Synonym of cheyney: worsted or woolen stuff.
   • ...And then the last boon I'll implore,
     Is to bless us with China so tight...1790, Alexander Wilson, Poems, page 55

   Synonyms:

   cheyney

6. (countable) Synonym of China rose, in its various senses.
   • Rosa indica (the common China); Rosa semperflorens (the monthly China).1844, Jane Loudon, The Ladies' Companion to the Flower Garden, 3rd edition, page 344

   Synonyms:

   China rose

7. (Australia, Cockney, South Africa, countable, slang) Synonym of mate (rhyme of china-plate).
   • All right, me old china?
   • ‘Now, then, my china-plate...’ This is essentially a brick~layer's phrase. If for ‘china-plate’ you substitute ‘mate’,[…] the puzzle is revealed.1880, Daniel William Barrett, Life and Work among the Navvies, 2nd edition, page 41

   Synonyms:

   mate

8. (dated, uncountable) Tea from China, (particularly) varieties cured by smoking or opposed to Indian cultivars.
   • Tea... Finest China, Plain (Moning).1907, Yesterday's Shopping, page 1
9. (US, countable, obsolete) A glazed china marble.
   • The marbles, in those days, had their primitive names. The unglazed china ones were called plasters because they looked like plaster; the glazed china marbles were called chinas. I remember how charming were the partly colored lines which encircled them.1932 March, Dan Beard, “New-Fashioned Kites and Old-Fashioned Marbles”, in Boys' Life, page 27
10. (countable) A kind of drum cymbal approximating a Chinese style of cymbal, but usually with Turkish influences.
    • China cymbals are a type of short sound cymbal. [Brand X] makes chinas with really short sounds.2010, Carmine Appice, Drums for Everyone, page 78

Proper noun (1) capitalized: China

UK/ˈt͡ʃaɪnə/

China (usually uncountable, plural Chinas)

1. (usually) A cultural region and civilization in East Asia, occupying the region around the Yellow, Yangtze, and Pearl Rivers, taken as a whole under its various dynasties.
   • China has 5000 years of history.
   • The great China, whose kyng is thought... the greatest prince in the worlde.1555, Peter Martyr, translated by Richard Eden, The Decades of the Newe Worlde..., folio 230 verso
2. (usually) A large country in East Asia, occupying the region around the Yellow, Yangtze, and Pearl Rivers; the People's Republic of China, since 1949.
   • 'Only a Nixon' Could Go to China1971 December 6, “A Size-up of President Nixon: Interview with Mike Mansfield, Senate Democratic Leader”, in US News & World Report, page 61
   • And I met with the President of China at great length in Florida, and we had long, long talks—hours and hours and hours.2017, Donald J. Trump, speech at Make America Great Again Rally, Harrisburg, PA
3. (usually) Synonym of mainland China.
   • The gambling winnings were transferred from Macau to China.

   Synonyms:

   mainland China

4. (usually) China in One China, asserting that there is only one de jure Chinese nation
   • It will not change the historical and legal facts that there is only one China in the world.
5. (historical, usually) Any of the empires occupying similar territory to that of the modern nation of China, ruled under various dynasties up through the early 20th century.
6. (historical, usually) The Republic of China prior to 1949, and sometimes after that time, particularly up through the early 1970's or so (when the People's Republic of China assumed the United Nations seat allocated to China).
7. (rare, usually) A female given name.
   • My name is China Bayles. I'm the owner of Thyme and Seasons and the co-owner, with Ruby Wilcox, of a new tearoom called Thyme for Tea.2001, Susan Wittig Albert, chapter 1, in Bloodroot, Berkley Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 3
   • 'What's her name, this girl?' The fight had hoarsened Lynne's voice, and the words came out strangely staccato - a wooden doll that had just learned to speak.
     'China,' he mumbled, feeling an obscure desire to invent a pseudonym for her.
     'What an interesting name.'
     Angus struck the table edge hard....2014, Neil D. A. Stewart, The Glasgow Coma Scale, Constable & Robinson, →ISBN, page 159
8. (usually) An unincorporated community in Jefferson County, Indiana, United States.
9. (usually) A town in Kennebec County, Maine, United States.
   • The golden baked pâté chinois, a shepherd's pie, uses a recipe brought back to Quebec by miners working in China, Me.1991 December 8, Nancy Lyon, “Quebec's Cuisine Has a New Flavor”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC
10. (usually) An unincorporated community in Howell County, Missouri, United States.
11. (usually) A hamlet in Delaware County, New York, United States.
12. (usually) A small city in Jefferson County, Texas, United States.
13. (usually) A municipality and town in Nuevo León, Mexico.
14. (usually) A surname.

Noun (2) capitalized: China

UK/ˈt͡ʃaɪnə/

China (countable and uncountable, plural Chinas)

1. Alternative letter-case form of china: porcelain tableware.
2. (obsolete) A Chinese person.
3. (alternative, obsolete) Alternative form of cheyney: woollen stuff; items made or filled with cheyney.
4. (abbreviation, clipping) Clipping of China rose, various flowers.
5. (abbreviation, clipping) Clipping of China tea.
6. (alternative, slang) Alternative form of china: a mate, a friend.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: China

IPA/tʃi.nɑː/

China

1. A town in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan.
   • According to the town of China, if all students commuting by motorcycles switched to electric ones, carbon emissions could be reduced to under one-fourth of the current amount.2022 December 24, “School on Japan island lends electric scooters to students for eco-friendly, cheap commute”, in The Mainichi
   • The two towns on the island, China (pronounced chee-nah) and Wadomari, along with neighboring Tokunoshima island, each have different dialects.2024 August 21, “Linguists rush to preserve rare dialect on remote Kagoshima isle”, in The Asahi Shinbun