qilin
Syllables: qi·lin/ˈtʃiːlɪn/
qilin noun: a mythical Chinese hooved chimerical creature, said to appear in conjunction with the arrival of a sage.
Noun
qilin (plural qilins)
- A mythical Chinese hooved chimerical creature, said to appear in conjunction with the arrival of a sage.
- ...a red and gold textile with phoenixes in one row swooping towards qilins in the next amidst a densely foliated ground...1989, Ernst J. Grube, Eleanor G. Sims, Islamic Art: Volume 3
- Roundel depicting dragon attacked by qilins; mounted on an album page.2001, David J. Roxburgh, Prefacing the image: the writing of art history in sixteenth-century Iran
- Synonyms:
- kirin
qilin meaning in Thai and Vietnamese
qilin in Thai
- mythical creature
- กิเลน gì-leen
qilin in Vietnamese
- mythical creature
- kì lân, kỳ lân
Synonyms of qilin
Forms of qilin
| plural | qilins |
|---|---|
| alternative form | kilin |
| alternative form | kylin |
Origin of qilin
From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 麒麟 (qílín). Doublet of kirin.
Questions about qilin
- What does qilin mean?
- Qilin means a mythical Chinese hooved chimerical creature, said to appear in conjunction with the arrival of a sage.
- What is qilin in Thai?
- Qilin in Thai is กิเลน (gì-leen). See Qilin meaning in Thai.
- What part of speech is qilin?
- Qilin is a noun.
- How do you pronounce qilin?
- Qilin is pronounced /ˈtʃiːlɪn/.
- What is the plural of qilin?
- The plural of qilin is qilins.
Words near qilin in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: qilin (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:
Cite this entry: “qilin.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/qilin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.