Word.ws English Dictionary

Chinese

UK/t͡ʃaɪˈniːz//ˌt͡ʃaɪˈniz/

Chinese adjective: of, from, or related to China, particularly now the People's Republic of China. Also the ellipsis of Chinese cuisine.

chinese: of, from, or related to China, particularly now the People's Republic of China
Image: Supersentai, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Adjective

Chinese (not generally comparable, comparative more Chinese, superlative most Chinese)

  1. (not comparable, usually) Of, from, or related to China, particularly now the People's Republic of China.
    • China has been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party since 1949.
    • In this instance, when the Chairman of the "Accuracy in Media" spoke out strongly against the Chinese Communist system of "pin yin" spelling, he was not criticizing any bias or unreliability of news presentation but specifically the inconvenience and confusion caused by the "pin yin" spelling of...1980 November 30, “Communist China's 'Pin Yin' system causes confusion among foreigners”, in Free China Weekly, volume XXI, number 47, Taipei, page 1
  2. (not comparable, usually) Of, from, or related to the people of China, particularly the Han Chinese and their culture whether in China or overseas.
    • Important Chinese holidays celebrated around the world include the Chinese New Year ("Spring Festival"), Tomb Sweeping Day, and the Mid-Autumn Festival.
    • In the early 1870’s anti-Chinese agitation in California became organized and focused under the leadership of Denis Kearney, who was, ironically, an immigrant from Ireland. A campaign of organized violence against Chinese communities took form, and the hysteria led to political pressure too violent...1964, John F. Kennedy, A Nation of Immigrants, Revised and Enlarged edition, Harper & Row, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 72–73
  3. (not comparable, usually) Of, from, or related to a language native to Han Chinese persons, often used generally of Chinese characters or particularly to refer to Standard Mandarin.
    • There are four Chinese tones... five, if you count the neutral one.
    • The construction of a verbal system which is fairly regular and at the same time based on existing languages is a most difficult task, because in no other domain of the grammar do languages retain a greater number of ancient irregularities and differ more fundamentally from one another. Still an...1928, Otto Jespersen, An International Language, page 82
  4. (not comparable, offensive, sometimes, usually) As exotic, unusual, backwards, or unorganized as someone or something from China.
    • It's all Chinese to me.
  5. (not comparable, offensive, sometimes, usually) Used with a noun to indicate a referent different from, and seemingly more exotic or unusual than, the base noun's referent.
    • Chinese apple, Chinese checkers, Chinese snooker
  6. (dated, not comparable, offensive, usually) Having barn doors with a horizontal orientation.

Proper noun

Chinese

  1. (uncountable) The Standard Chinese language, written in Chinese characters and spoken and spelled using Standard Mandarin pronunciation.
    • 你好 is read “Nǐ hǎo” and means “Hello” in Chinese.
    • The resulting Belter creole is a crazy mix of English, Chinese, romance languages like French, German, Persian, Hebrew, Zulu, and a few other surprises. Farmer says he has over 1,000 Belter words in his personal dictionary, and he keeps adding more as the show’s producers and fans request them.2019 December 22, Annalee Newitz and Cyrus Farivar, “Nick Farmer knows dozens of languages, so he invented one for The Expanse”, in Ars Technica
    Synonyms:
    Putonghua, Guoyu, Huayu, Guanhua, Hanyu, Zhongwen
  2. (uncountable) The branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family including Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, Southern Min, and other closely related language varieties and dialects.
    • Suzhounese and Hakka are lesser-known varieties of Chinese.
  3. (uncountable) The logographic writing system shared by most Sinitic languages.
    • Hong Kong still uses traditional Chinese.

Noun

Chinese (countable and uncountable, plural Chinese or Chineses)

  1. (countable, in plural) A native, inhabitant, or citizen of China, particularly of the People's Republic of China.
    • The Chinese have an incredible history.
    • If the Chinese were a people like the Russians, the Germans or the French, we (I address chiefly American and British readers) would observe any marked increase in their industrial activity or in their national aggressiveness with some misgiving, possibly, but […]1900, Jared Sparks, Edward Everett, Henry Cabot Lodge, The North American Review, volume 171, page 390
  2. (countable, in plural) A member of the Han Chinese ethnic group, whether in China or overseas.
    • The Chinese are present in all parts of the world.
    • And the Iaponians, are longer liv’d, than the Chineſes; […]1638, Francis [Bacon], translated by W[illiam] R[awley], “Length and Shortnesse of Life in Man. The Historie.”, in History Naturall and Experimentall, of Life and Death. Or Of the Prolongation of...

Also used as

Chinese is also the ellipsis of Chinese cuisine.

Chinese is also the ellipsis of Chinese meal.

Chinese is also the ellipsis of Chinese restaurant.

Chinese meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

Chinese in Hindi

of, from, or relating to China, its people, its culture, or its language
चीनी cīnī
the standard language of China — see also Mandarin
चीनी cīnī
writing system of Chinese
चीनी cīnī
person from China or of Chinese descent
चीनी cīnī

Chinese in Tamil

of, from, or relating to China, its people, its culture, or its language
சீன cīṉa
related to the Han ethnic group
சீன cīṉa
the standard language of China — see also Mandarin
சீனம் cīṉam, சீன மொழி cīṉa moḻi
person from China or of Chinese descent
சீனர் cīṉar

Chinese in Marathi

the standard language of China — see also Mandarin
चीनी भाषा cīnī bhāṣā
person from China or of Chinese descent
चिनी cinī
Chinese food
चायनीज cāynīj

Chinese in Urdu

of, from, or relating to China, its people, its culture, or its language
چینی cīnī
the standard language of China — see also Mandarin
چینی cīnī
person from China or of Chinese descent
چینی cīnī
the people of China (to be merged into the translations table above, or reconstituted as a new translations table) — see also Han Chinese, overseas Chinese
چینی cīnī
More languagesFewer languages
Chinese in Bengali
চীনদেশীয় cindeśiẏo, চীনা cina, চীনা ভাষা cina bhaśa
Chinese in Telugu
చైనీయులు cainīyulu
Chinese in Gujarati
ચીની cīnī, ચીનો cīno
Chinese in Sanskrit
चीन cīna
Chinese in Sinhala
චීන cīna, චීන භාෂාව cīna bhāṣāwa
Chinese in Assamese
চীনা sina, চীনা ভাষা sina bhaxa
Chinese in Nepali
चीनियाँ cīniyā̃
Chinese in Pashto
چيني ciní, چينايي činayí, چینایی čināyáy
Chinese in Tagalog
Intsik, Tsino, Tsekwa, Intsík
Chinese in Arabic
صِينِيّ ṣīniyy, صِينِيَّة ṣīniyya, صِينِيُّون ṣīniyyūn, صِينِيَّات ṣīniyyāt
Chinese in Malay
Cina, bahasa Cina, orang Cina
Chinese in Indonesian
Tionghoa, Tiongkok, orang Tiongkok, orang Cina
Chinese in Persian
چینی čini, زبان چینی zabân-e čini
Chinese in Thai
จีน jiin, คนจีน kon jiin, ภาษาจีน paa-săa jiin
Chinese in Vietnamese
Trung Quốc, Trung Hoa, Tàu, Trung
Chinese in Myanmar
တရုတ် ta.rut, တရုတ်စကား ta.rutca.ka:, တရုတ်စာ ta.rutca, တရုတ်လူမျိုး ta.rutlu-myui:

Examples of Chinese in a sentence

  • Experts told CNN it could take weeks to address the vulnerabilities and that suspected Chinese hackers are already attempting to exploit it.2021 December 13, Sean Lyngaas, “US warns hundreds of millions of devices at risk from newly revealed software vulnerability”, in CNN:
  • In the early 1870’s anti-Chinese agitation in California became organized and focused under the leadership of Denis Kearney, who was, ironically, an immigrant from Ireland.1964, John F. Kennedy, A Nation of Immigrants, Revised and Enlarged edition, Harper & Row, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 72–73:
  • The DPRK (Joseon Minjujui Inmin Konghuaguk 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國) is read in Chinese as Chaoxian minzhu zhuyi renmin gonghe guo, and its capital, Pyeonyang, is pronounced Pingrang 平壤.2012, Endymion Wilkinson, “Introduction”, in Chinese History: A New Manual, 3rd revised edition, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN...
  • I have given these points to make it clear that the Chinese are a people of strong emotion; and that this emotion is highest and purest when running in the channels of filial piety and loyalty.1934, Chinese Affairs, volume 65, page 23:

Synonyms of Chinese

20 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of Chinese

Forms of Chinese

Adjective
comparativemore Chinese
superlativemost Chinese
Noun
pluralChinese
pluralChineses

Origin of Chinese

From China + -ese under influence of Portuguese chinês, replacing older Chinish. Doublet of chinois. In its orientalist sense of "generically exotic, backwards, or poorly organized", sometimes a deliberate marketing strategy to increase sales, as with the German Chinese checkers. In its sense related to the orientation of stage lighting's barn doors, a reference to a supposed resemblance to East Asian eyes.

Words formed from Chinese

Phrases with Chinese

181 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with Chinese

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about Chinese

What does Chinese mean?
Chinese means of, from, or related to China, particularly now the People's Republic of China.
What is Chinese in Hindi?
Chinese in Hindi is चीनी (cīnī). See Chinese meaning in Hindi.
How do you use Chinese in a sentence?
Experts told CNN it could take weeks to address the vulnerabilities and that suspected Chinese hackers are already attempting to exploit it.
What part of speech is Chinese?
Chinese can be an adjective, a proper noun or a noun.
How do you pronounce Chinese?
Chinese is pronounced /t͡ʃaɪˈniːz/ (UK).

Words near Chinese in the dictionary

  1. Chinequa
  2. Chinery
  3. Chinerys
  4. chines
  5. Chinesca
  6. Chinese
  7. Chinese ace
  8. Chinese aces
  9. Chinese alligator
  10. Chinese alligators
  11. Chinese anemone

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Chinese (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-Chinese.ogg.

Cite this entry: “Chinese.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/chinese. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.