china

English

Alternative forms

• China (generally dated)
• (dialectal): chiney, cheny, cheney, chenea, chainy, chaney, chany, chaynee, chayney, cheenie, cheeny, chainé

Etymology

From clippings of attributive use of China, q.v., the country in East Asia. In reference to porcelain and porcelain objects, via clipping of china-ware and via this sense of Persian چین (čini) in Persia and India, which influenced the pronunciation (see below). In reference to medicine, via clipping of China root. In reference to flowers, via clipping of China rose. In reference to tea, via clipping of China tea. In Cockney slang, a clipping of china plate as a rhyme of mate (“friend”). In reference to drum cymbals, a clipping of China cymbal and as a genericization of a kind of Zildjian-brand cymbal.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃaɪnə/

  • Audio (GB)

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  • Audio (US)

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  • Audio (AU)

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• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈtʃeɪnɪ/, /ˈtʃiːnɪ/
• Rhymes: -aɪnə

Noun

china (countable and uncountable, plural chinas)

1. (uncountable) Synonym of porcelain, a hard white translucent ceramic made from kaolin, now (chiefly US) sometimes distinguished in reference to tableware as fine or good china.

   It's a china doll.

2. (uncountable) Chinaware: porcelain tableware.
   • 1634, Thomas Herbert, A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, page 41:

     They sell Callicoes, Cheney Sattin, Cheney ware.

   • 1653, Henry Cogan translating Fernão Mendes Pinto as The Voyages and Adventures of Fernand Mendez Pinto, p. 206:

     ...a Present of certain very rich Pieces of China.

   He set the table with china, cloth napkins, and crystal stemware.

   The traditional 20th anniversary gift is china.

3. (uncountable, chiefly US, dated) Cheaper and lower-quality ceramic and ceramic tableware, distinguished from porcelain.
   • 1921 May 11, “Edison Questions Stir Up a Storm”, in New York Times:

     What is porcelain? A fine earthenware differing from china in being harder, whiter, harder to fuse and more translucent than ordinary pottery.

4. (uncountable) Synonym of China root, the root of Smilax china (particularly) as a medicine.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: , 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 5, member 1, subsection v:

     China, saith Manardus, makes a good colour in the face, takes away melancholy, and all infirmities proceeding from cold […].

5. (uncountable, obsolete) Synonym of cheyney: worsted or woolen stuff.
   • 1790, Alexander Wilson, Poems, page 55:

     ...And then the last boon I'll implore,
     Is to bless us with China so tight...

6. (countable) Synonym of China rose, in its various senses.
   • 1844, Jane Loudon, The Ladies' Companion to the Flower Garden, 3rd edition, page 344:

     Rosa indica (the common China); Rosa semperflorens (the monthly China).

8. (countable, Cockney rhyming slang, Australia, South Africa) Synonym of mate (rhyme of china-plate).

   All right, me old china?

   • 1880, Daniel William Barrett, Life and Work among the Navvies, 2nd edition, page 41:

     ‘Now, then, my china-plate...’ This is essentially a brick~layer's phrase. If for ‘china-plate’ you substitute ‘mate’, […] the puzzle is revealed.

   • 1925, Edward Fraser et al., Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases, page 53:

     China, or Old China: chum.

9. (uncountable, dated) Tea from China, (particularly) varieties cured by smoking or opposed to Indian cultivars.
   • 1907, Yesterday's Shopping, page 1:

     Tea... Finest China, Plain (Moning).

10. (countable, games, chiefly US, obsolete) A glazed china marble.
    • 1932 March, Dan Beard, “New-Fashioned Kites and Old-Fashioned Marbles”, in Boys' Life, page 27:

      The marbles, in those days, had their primitive names. The unglazed china ones were called plasters because they looked like plaster; the glazed china marbles were called chinas. I remember how charming were the partly colored lines which encircled them.

11. (countable, music) A kind of drum cymbal approximating a Chinese style of cymbal, but usually with Turkish influences.
    • 2010, Carmine Appice, Drums for Everyone, page 78:

      China cymbals are a type of short sound cymbal. [Brand X] makes chinas with really short sounds.

Derived terms

• bone china, bull in a china shop, china-blue, china-closet, china doll, china eye, china-fancier, china-glaze, china-house, china-hunter, china-like, china mark, china money, china-oven, china-painting, china-paints, china-shell, china-shop, china-stone, china-tipper, china token, china wedding, china blue, china clay, china marker, china pencil

Translations

References

• “China, n.¹ and adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1889.
• “china”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• Anich, Chain, Chian, chain

Asturian

Adjective

china

1. feminine singular of chinu

Franco-Provençal

Noun

china f

1. female dog

Coordinate terms

• chin

French

Verb

china

1. third-person singular past historic of chiner

Anagrams

• nicha

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈki.na/
• Rhymes: -ina
• Hyphenation: chì‧na

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

china f sg

1. feminine singular of chino

Etymology 2

Deverbal from chinare +‎ -a.

Noun

china f (plural chine)

1. slope, decline, descent

   Synonyms: pendio, declivio, discesa

Related terms

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Spanish quina, quinaquina, from Quechua.

Noun

china f (plural chine)

1. cinchona (tree)

Related terms

Etymology 4

From Portuguese China, namely "ink of China".

Noun

china f (plural chine)

1. Indian ink

Etymology 5

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

china

1. inflection of chinare:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Japanese

Romanization

china

1. Rōmaji transcription of ちな

Kalasha

Adjective

china

1. Alternative spelling of čhína

Macanese

Noun

china (plural china-china)

1. a Chinese person, especially from mainland China
2. (collective) the Chinese

   China tâ dismanchâ baraca

   The Chinese are taking down the scaffolding

Synonyms

• náchi

Adjective

china

1. Chinese (from or relating to China)

Derived terms

• Ano-Novo-China (“Chinese New Year”)
• auto-china (“Chinese opera”)
• cám china, cachôro-china (“dog whose bark is worse than his bite”)
• china di lête (“dairyman”)
• china falâ (“as the Chinese say”)
• china-merenda (“Chinese snack-seller”)
• china pobre (“beggar”)
• china-rico (“Chinese magnate”)
• mestre-china (“Chinese healer”)
• ramendâ china-china (“just like the Chinese”)
• téra-china (“mainland China”)

References

• https://www.macaneselibrary.org/pub/english/uipatua.htm

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Homophone: China

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Spanish china, from Quechua china (“female”).

Noun

china f (plural chinas)

1. (Rio Grande do Sul) a woman, especially one of Native American descent

Etymology 2

From China.

Noun

china m or f by sense (plural chinas)

1. (dated or informal) Chinaman; Chinese; someone from China

   Synonym: chinês

Quechua

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃina/

Noun

china

1. female (of humans or animals)
2. a woman of low social status
3. servant, slavegirl

Declension

References

• “china” in Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua (2006) Diccionario quechua-español-quechua, 2nd edition, Cusco: Edmundo Pantigozo.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃina/
• Rhymes: -ina
• Syllabification: chi‧na

Etymology 1

From the infantile/nursery word chin, a children's guessing game.

Noun

china f (plural chinas)

1. pebble, small stone (usually rounded)
2. (Venezuela) slingshot

Derived terms

Related terms

Etymology 2

Noun

china f (plural chinas)

1. female equivalent of chino (“Chinese man”)
2. china (porcelain)
3. (Puerto Rico) orange, sweet orange
4. (colloquial, Cuba) chickenpox

   Synonym: varicela

Adjective

china

1. feminine singular of chino

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Quechua china (“female”).

Noun

china f (plural chinas)

1. (derogatory, South America) female servant in a hacienda
2. (Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua) babysitter

   Synonym: niñera

Etymology 4

Allusion to the orange fruit's Asian origin (as in sinensis in Citrus sinensis).

Noun

china f (plural chinas)

1. (Puerto Rico) orange (fruit)

References

Further reading

• “china”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014