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Hainanese

Hainanese adjective: of or relating to the island of Hainan, its people and their diaspora.

Adjective

Hainanese (comparative more Hainanese, superlative most Hainanese)

  1. Of or relating to the island of Hainan, its people and their diaspora.
    • Because of the comparatively shorter distance, Hainanese merchants could use smaller vessels, usually constructed of fir and other inferior woods, which they customarily furnished with masts, rudders, and wooden anchors, availing themselves of the abundance of material in Champa and Cambodia which...1977, Sarasin Viraphol, Tribute and Profit: Sino-Siamese Trade 1652–1853, Harvard University Press, pages 188–189

Proper noun

Hainanese

  1. A group of Min Chinese dialects spoken on the island of Hainan and its diaspora.
    • Mr. MELROSE, though engaged in the study of the Hainanese language, has found time to open and give daily supervision to a Boy's School.1892, Report of the American Presbyterian Mission in Canton, China for the Year 1891, Canton, page 48
    • It is not easy to decide from which dialect of Chinese some of the loanwords derive, and this may explain why Philip Leo does not list any as coming from Hainanese nor Tiociu.1984, NUSA: Linguistic Studies in Indonesian and Languages in Indonesia, volume 19, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 21, column 1

Noun

Hainanese pl (plural only)

  1. (plural, plural-only) The inhabitants of the island of Hainan and its diaspora
    • I needed an interpreter in only one interview, that with an elderly Hainanese from Kompong-Trach.1970, William E. Willmott, The Political Structure of the Chinese Community in Cambodia, Athlone Press, page v

Forms of Hainanese

comparativemore Hainanese
superlativemost Hainanese

Origin of Hainanese

From Hainan + -ese. Doublet of Hainamese and Hailamese.

Words formed from Hainanese

Phrases with Hainanese

Questions about Hainanese

What does Hainanese mean?
Hainanese means of or relating to the island of Hainan, its people and their diaspora.
What part of speech is Hainanese?
Hainanese can be an adjective, a proper noun or a noun.

Words near Hainanese in the dictionary

  1. Hainan gibbons
  2. Hainan minnow
  3. Hainan minnows
  4. Hainan Strait
  5. hainaneoside
  6. Hainanese
  7. Hainanese chicken rice
  8. Hainanese pork chop
  9. hainantoxin
  10. hainantoxins
  11. Hainault

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Hainanese (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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