Nanjing
Syllables: Nan·jing/nænˈd͡ʒɪŋ/
Nanjing proper noun: a major subprovincial city, the provincial capital of Jiangsu, China, on the lower Yangtze; a former capital of China.
Proper noun
Nanjing
- A major subprovincial city, the provincial capital of Jiangsu, China, on the lower Yangtze; a former capital of China.
- That Riuer of Nanquin which I called (Yamſu or) Ianſu, the ſonne of the Sea, goeth Northward to Nanquin, and then returning ſomewhat Southward, runneth into the Sea with great force; fortie myles from which it paſſeth by Nanquin. And that from hence to Pequin there might bee paſſage by Riuers, the...[1625, Samuel Purchas, Pvrchas His Pilgrimes, volume III, London, →OCLC, page 340
- For the first time on Saturday, China held a national day of remembrance on the 77th anniversary of Japanese atrocities committed in the city of Nanjing in the run-up to World War II. President Xi Jinping led the commemorations in front of a crowd of some 10,000 people, among whom were survivors or...2014 December 13, “China's Xi: Nanjing massacre undeniable”, in Deutsche Welle, archived from the original on 25 Apr 2016, Asia
- Synonyms:
- Jiangning
- Synonym of Jiangnan, Nanzhili, Liangjiang, etc. as imperial Chinese provinces or viceroyalties administered from Nanjing.
- Synonyms:
- Jiangnan, Nanzhili, Liangjiang
- Various other Chinese cities during periods when they acted as a southern capital of a kingdom or imperial dynasty.
Nanjing meaning in Hindi, Telugu, Arabic and Thai
Nanjing in Hindi
- Chinese city
- नानजिंग nānjiṅg
Nanjing in Telugu
- Chinese city
- నాంకింగు nāṅkiṅgu
Nanjing in Arabic
- Chinese city
- نَانْجِينْغ nanjinḡ
Nanjing in Thai
- Chinese city
- หนานจิง nǎan-jing
More languagesFewer languages
- Nanjing in Vietnamese
- Nam Kinh
Synonyms of Nanjing
Forms of Nanjing
| alternative form | Nan-ching |
|---|---|
| alternative form | Nanching |
| alternative historical (dated) | Nanking |
| alternative form (obsolete) | Nankin |
| alternative form (obsolete) | Nanquin |
Origin of Nanjing
The atonal Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 南京 (Nánjīng), composed of 南 (“south, southern”) and 京 (jīng, “capital”), distinguishing it from Beijing to the north, and first applied informally during the reign of the Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who preferred to rule from Beijing but was obliged to treat Nanjing as a secondary capital by the dynastic injunctions of his father the Hongwu Emperor. The name continued a practice of several preceding dynasties—especially those of nomadic conquerers from the north such as the Jin and Liao—of maintaining a number of separate capitals designated by their cardinal directions.
Words formed from Nanjing
Questions about Nanjing
- What does Nanjing mean?
- Nanjing means a major subprovincial city, the provincial capital of Jiangsu, China, on the lower Yangtze; a former capital of China.
- What is Nanjing in Hindi?
- Nanjing in Hindi is नानजिंग (nānjiṅg). See Nanjing meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is Nanjing?
- Nanjing is a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce Nanjing?
- Nanjing is pronounced /nænˈd͡ʒɪŋ/.
Words near Nanjing in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Nanjing (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Nanjing.wav.
Cite this entry: “Nanjing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nanjing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.