臺灣

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See also: 台湾 and 台灣

Chinese

phonetic
trad. (臺灣/台灣) 臺/台 灣
simp. (台湾) 台 湾
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Etymology

Appears to be first attested in a memorial to the imperial government by official He Kai (何楷) in 1635:

今欲靖寇氛，非墟其窟不可。其窟維何？臺灣是也。臺灣在彭湖島外，距漳、泉止兩日夜程，地廣而腴。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
今欲靖寇氛，非墟其窟不可。其窟维何？台湾是也。台湾在彭湖岛外，距漳、泉止两日夜程，地广而腴。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: 17th-18th century, History of Ming
Jīn yù jìng kòufēn, fēi xū qí kū bùkě. Qí kū wéi hé? Táiwān shì yě. Táiwān zài Pénghú dǎo wài, jù Zhāng, Quán zhǐ liǎng rì yè chéng, dì guǎng ér yú.
If we are to subdue the bandits, we must destroy their hideout. Where is their hideout, then? It's Taiwan. Taiwan is further from Penghu, with a distance of two days away from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, and the land is large and fertile.

Officially, no later than 1684 with the creation of Taiwan Prefecture (臺灣府). A phonetic transliteration of an ethnonym of a tribe in the southwest part of the island in the area of Anping, Tainan, southwest Taiwan, variously recorded in Dutch records as Tayouan or Tayowan or Taiouwang. A Dutch missionary referred to this group as Taiouwang no later than 1636. Other phonetic transliterations in Chinese characters included 大員 , 大圓 , 臺員, and 大灣 .

Possibly derived from Siraya taywan, which is a compound of tayw (“man”) +‎ an (“place marker suffix”).

By surface analysis, 臺／台 (tái, “terraced”) +‎ 灣／湾 (wān, “bay”).

Pronunciation

Note:
  • tai5 uêng1 - Chaozhou;
  • tai5 uang1 - Shantou, Jieyang.

Proper noun

臺灣

  1. (～島) Taiwan (island)
    臺灣原住民族／台湾原住民族  ―  Táiwān yuánzhùmínzú  ―  Taiwanese aboriginal people
    臺灣文學專題／台湾文学专题  ―  Táiwān wénxué zhuāntí  ―  special topics on Taiwanese literature
  2. (～省) Taiwan Province (administrative division in both the Republic of China and People's Republic of China)
  3. (～地區) Taiwan Area (Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and some minor islands, which are de facto governed by the Republic of China)

Usage notes

  • Although use of the full traditional form 臺 is encouraged by the ROC Ministry of Education, the alternate traditional form 台 is now more commonly used in Taiwan, and is the standard in Hong Kong. Further, the form 台湾, coincidentally the Simplified Chinese form, is frequently used in Taiwan.
  • In Min Nan, the character 灣／湾 is usually read as oan (e.g., 海灣／海湾). The reading of oân in the context of the toponym Taiwan is an exception stemming from the historical variant 臺員／台员, and 臺灣／台湾 is properly read as Tâi-oân.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (臺灣):

Others:

See also

References

  1. ^ Shih Hsiu-chuan (2010 December 14) “Premier respects ‘choice’ on spelling”, in Taipei Times‎, retrieved 8 January 2015

Japanese

Kanji in this term
臺 灣
たい
Hyōgaiji 		わん
Hyōgaiji
on’yomi
For pronunciation and definitions of 臺灣 – see the following entry.
【台湾たいわん】
Taiwan
(This term, 臺灣, is the kyūjitai of the above term.)

Korean

Hanja in this term
臺灣

Proper noun

臺灣 • (Daeman) (hangeul 대만)

  1. Hanja form? of 대만 (“Taiwan”).

Vietnamese

chữ Hán Nôm in this term
臺灣

Proper noun

臺灣

  1. chữ Hán form of Đài Loan (“Taiwan”).
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