English words from Chinese


This list parallels my similar pages on words from Arabic and Amerindian languages. The main sources are the OED, the AHD, a number of Chinese dictionaries, ZhongWen.com, and Wikipedia (for nailing down the exact characters).

I’ve included a number of proper names, partly because it's fun to know that (e.g.) Mao means 'wool', partly because Chinese place names tend to have clear, simple etymologies with useful words in them.

M. = Mandarin, C. = Cantonese (given, I’m afraid, in whatever transliteration was near at hand). I use = rather than ← to emphasize that the relationship between the two is cognacy, not derivation. That is, the Cantonese word doesn’t derive from the Mandarin; both derive from an older Middle Chinese form.

Japanese has borrowed Chinese words at various periods. For instance, the gei in geisha doesn’t derive directly from modern Mandarin yì, but from an earlier stage of the language, closer to Middle Chinese ngiäi (Karlgren’s reconstruction). Note that Japanese words may be constructed from Chinese morphemes rather than borrowed as a unit, much as we created 'telephone' from Greek elements. (Another complication: some words are ateji, which use Chinese characters for their phonetic value only; these aren't always easy to recognize.)

Thanks to Hirofumi Nagamura, Philip Newton, bicoherent, Ran, Rachel Kronick, and Marnen Laibow-Koser for corrections.

Based on all these words, look at all the Chinese you know!


aikido - Japanese aikidō ← M. hé ‘unite’ + qì ‘chi’ + dào ‘way’
banzai - Japanese ← M. wànsuì ‘10,000 years’
Beijing- M. běijīng ‘northern capital’
bok choy - C. baak choy = M. báicài ‘white vegetable’
bonsai - Japanese ← M. pén ‘basin’ + zāi ‘plant’ (but the M. term is now pénjǐng)
bonze - Japanese bonsō ← M. fánsēng ‘Buddhist monk’; fán ← Sanskrit brāhmaṇas ‘Brahmins’
bushido - Japanese bushidō ← wǔshì ‘warrior (war-person)’ + dào ‘way’
Canton - M. Guǎngdōng ‘wide east’— now the name of the province not the city, which is Guǎngzhōu ‘wide state’
chai - Russian ‘tea’ ← M. chá
Jackie Chan - C. chan = M. chén ‘arrange’, a common surname
cheongsam - C. = M. chángshān ‘long clothes’
chi - M. qì ‘breath, spirit, vitality’
China - Sanskrit Chīna ← (probably) M. Qín dynasty
china (ware) - Persian chīnī— the first (17th century) citations in English are apt to be spelled chiney, cheney— ← Sanskrit Chīna (q.v.)
chin chin (toast) - M. qing-qing
Ching - M. Qīng dynasty = ‘pure’
chop chop (fast) - Pidgin ← C. kap
chop suey - C. zaap6 seoi3 = M. zásuì ‘mixed pieces’
chopsticks - loose Pidgin translation of C. fai chi = M. kuàizi ‘fast ones’
chow mein - C. chau mīn = M. chǎomiàn ‘stir-fried noodles’
chow (dog) - Pidgin ← C. kau = M. gǒu
chow (food) - Pidgin ← M. chǎo ‘stir-fry’
Chung-Kuo - M. Zhōngguó ‘middle country’, i.e. China
Confucius - Latin ← M. Kǒng fūzǐ ← family name kǒng ‘hole’ + a title, ‘master’
daimyo - Japanese daimyō ← M. dàmíng ‘big name’
dazibao - M. dàzìbào ‘big character newspaper’
dim sum - C. dim2 sam1 = M. diǎn xīn ‘order heart’
dojo - Japanese dōjō ← M. dào ‘way’ + chǎng ‘yard’ (i.e. ‘place of the Way’)
egg foo young - C. fu yung = M. fúróng ‘hibiscus’
feng shui - M. fēngshuǐ ‘wind-water’
futon - Japanese, from earlier hoton ← M. pú ‘reed’ + tuán ‘body, mass’; the use of 布 (M. bù ‘cloth’) is a modern substitution.
gaijin - Japanese ‘foreigner’ ← M. wàirén ‘outsider’ = ‘outside, foreign’ + ‘person’
geisha - Japanese ← M. yì ‘art’ + zhě ‘person’
General Tso’s chicken - after Zuǒ Zōngtáng; zuǒ = ‘left’
ginkgo - a misreading of Japanese 銀杏 as gin + kyo = M. yínxìng ‘silver apricot’
ginseng - M. rénshēn ‘man’ + ‘ginseng’
gwailo - C. gwai2 lou2 = M. guǐlǎo ‘ghost’ + a despective suffix, probably etymologically equivalent to lǎo ‘old’
gung ho - M. gōng hé ‘work together’, introduced into English by Major Evans Carlson; apparently an abbreviation for gōngyè hézuòshè ‘industrial workers cooperative’
haiku - Japanese ← M. páijù ‘amusement-sentence’
Han - M. Hàn, name of the dynasty, which has become the normal word for ethnic Chinese
Hanoi - Vietnamese ← M. hé ‘river’ + nèi ‘inside’
hanzi - M. hànzì ‘Chinese character’
hapkido - Korean ← M. hé ‘unite’ + qì ‘chi’ + dào ‘way’
Ho Chi Minh - Vietnamese ← M. hú zhìmíng ‘lake’ + ‘goal-bright’
Hong Kong - C. Hēunggóng = M. Xiānggǎng ‘fragrant port’
Huang Ho - M. Huáng Hé ‘yellow river’; hé was the original name of the river, but became generalized to refer to any river, so that an adjective was needed
Hunan - M. Húnán ‘lake-south’, the lake being Dòngtíng
I Ching - M. yìjīng ‘change-classic’
Japan - Malay ← M. Rìběn ‘sun-origin’
judo - Japanese jūdō ← M. róudào ‘gentle way’
jujitsu - Japanese jūjutsu ← M. róushù ‘gentle art’
kanji - Japanese ← M. hànzì ‘Chinese character’
kendo - Japanese kendō ← M. jiàndào ‘sword-way’
ketchup - Malay kecap ‘vinegary sauce’ ← Amoy kētsiap ‘fish brine’; 1st character uncertain; 2nd is M. zhī ‘juice’
kirin - Japanese ← M. qílín; OED defines as ‘male + female’
koan - Japanese kōan ← M. gōng àn ‘fair, public’ + ‘case, plan’; said to be an abbreviation for gōngfǔ àndú ‘public (legal) documents’— something like ‘case law’
kowtow - M. kòutóu ‘knock head’
kumquat - C. gam1 gwat1 = M. jīnjú ‘golden orange’
kung fu - C. gōngfū ‘work, service’ = ‘merit’ + ‘man’
kung pao - C. gōngbǎo ‘palace-defend’ (a military title-- specifically, the guardian of a prince)
Kuomintang - C. Guómíndǎng ‘nation-people-party’
Kyoto - Japanese Kyōto ← M. jīngdū ‘capital-capital’
Lao Tze - M. lǎo ‘old’ + zǐ ‘son’
li (measure) - M. lǐ
loquat - C. luh kwat = M. lújú ‘reed orange’
lose face - loan-translation of diū liǎn ‘lose face’
lychee - M. lìzhī ‘litchi’ + ‘branch’
mahjongg - ma chiung = M. májiāng ‘hemp general’; the ‘sparrow’ referred to in OED and AHD seems to be a confusion with a C. alternate name
manga - Japanese ← M. mànhuà ‘unrestricted picture’
Mao - M. máo ‘fur, wool’ (his given name Zédōng is ‘radiance’ + ‘east’)
Meiji - Japanese ← M. míngzhì ‘bright-rule’
Ming - M. míng ‘bright’
miso - Japanese ← M. wèicēng ‘taste-noisy’
Mulan - M. mùlán ‘magnolia’ = ‘wood-orchid’
nihao - M. nǐhǎo ‘hello’ = ‘you’ + ‘good’
ninja - Japanese ← M. rěnzhě ‘endure-person’
oolong - M. wūlóng ‘black dragon’
pekoe - Amoy pak-ho = M. báiháo ‘white down’
Peking - C. Bākgīng ← M. Běijīng ‘northern capital’
pinyin - M. pīnyīn ‘join sound’
qigong - M. qìgōng ‘breath work’
ricksha - Japanese jinrikisha ← M. rénlìchē ‘man-power-vehicle’
Ranma - Japanese ← M. luànmǎ ‘wild horse’
ronin - Japanese rōnin ← M. làngrén ‘wave man’, metaphorically, ‘wanderer’
samisen - Japanese shamisen ← M. sān + wèi + xiàn ‘three taste cord’ (perhaps wèi is used as a measure word here); earlier English cites like shamshin (1616) come directly from the M. sānxián ‘three-string’
sampan - M. sānbǎn ‘three planks’; the modern M. term however is shānbǎn
sensei - Japanese ‘master, teacher’ ← M. xiānshēng ‘gentleman, ancestor’ = ‘first’ + ‘born’
seppuku - Japanese ← M. qiēfù ‘cut belly’
Shanghai - M. Shànghǎi ‘‘upper sea’
Shantung - M. Shāndōng ‘mountain-east’, these being the Taihang mountains
Shaolin - M. shǎolín ‘young forest’
shar-pei - M. shāpí ‘sandy skin’
shihtzu - M. shēzi gǒu ‘lion dog’
Shinto - Japanese Shintō ← shéndào ‘god way’
shogun - Japanese shōgun ← jiāngjūn ‘general’ = ‘use’ + ‘army’
shunga - Japanese ← M. chūnhuà ‘spring picture’
silk - Old English sioluc. From here the journey is tortuous, perhaps a little too much so: Old Slavonic šelkŭ ← Greek Sēres ‘Orientals’, i.e. perhaps ‘the silk people’ ← some Altaic precursor of Mongolian sirkek ← Old Chinese si-, M. sī
souchong - C. siu chung = M. xiǎozhǒng ‘small sort’. Lapsang is a proper name
soy - Japanese shōyu ← M. jiàngyóu ‘paste’ + ‘oil’
Sun Yat Sen - C. ← M. Sūn Yìxiān ← sūn ‘grandchild’ + ‘excellent immortal’
Szechwan - Sìchuān ‘four rivers’, short for chuānxiá sì lù ‘rivers-gorges four provinces’
tae kwon do - Korean ‘kick-punch-way’ ← M. táiquándào ‘trample-punch-way’
Tai Chi (Chuan) - tàijíquán ‘too extreme fist’
taikonaut - M. tàikōng ‘heaven’
Taiwan - Táiwān ‘platform bay’, though probably ‘platform’ is only used for its sound, to represent a native non-Chinese name
Tang - M. Táng, name of the dynasty
Tao - M. dào ‘way’
tea - Amoy te = M. chá
Tienanmen - M. tiān’ānmén ‘heaven-calm-gate’
tofu - Japanese tōfu ← M. dòufǔ ‘beans-rotten’
Tokyo - Japanese Tōkyō ← M. Dōngjīng ‘eastern capital’; Tonkin has the same etymology, borrowed into Vietnamese
tong - C. tong = M. táng ‘meeting hall’
tycoon - Japanese taikun ← dàjūn ‘great monarch’
typhoon - C. tai fung = M. dǎfēng ‘great wind’
wok - C. = M. guō
won ton - C. wan tan = M. húntún ‘irregular pasta’
Wong - C. wong ← M. wáng ‘king’
Xinhua (News Agency) - M. xīnhuá ‘new’ + ‘flowery, China’
yang - M. yáng ‘sun, bright, masculine’
Yangtze - M. Yángzǐ Jiāng ‘raise’ + diminutive + ‘large river’, a local name for the lower reaches; the M. for the entire river is Cháng Jiāng ‘long-river’; jiāng was the original name of the river, but this was generalized to all rivers, necessitating a disambiguating adjective
yen (money) - Japanese ← M. yuán ‘round’
yen (yearning) - C. yan = M. yǐn ‘addiction’
yin - M. yīn ‘moon, dark, feminine’
yuan (money) - M. yuán ‘round’
zaibatsu - Japanese ← M. cái ‘wealth’ + fá ‘wealthy person or family’
Zen - Japanese ← M. chán(nǎ) ‘meditation’ ← Sanskrit dhyāna
Zhou Enlai - M. zhōu ‘circle’, a common surname; Ēnlái is ‘favor-comes’

Also of note are loan-translations which appeared in Chinese Pidgin English, including long time no see, look-see, no can do, no go.

Disappointingly, ping-pong doesn't come from Chinese; so M. pīngpāng is a rare borrowing from English.

Look at all the Chinese you know!

One of the frustrations of learning Chinese is the relative lack of cognates... all the words seem exotic.

But in fact there are quite a few words we've been exposed to, as this list shows. It's simply an index of all the characters from the above word list.

See below for pronunciation tips.

安 ān - peace, calm • Tiananmen
案 àn - case, plan • koan
白 bái - white • bok choy, pekoe
板 bǎn - plank • sampan
保 bǎo - defend • kung pao
报 bào - newspaper • dazibao
北 běi - north • Beijing, Peking, Taipei
本 běn - origin • Japan
财 cái - wealth • zaibatsu
菜 cài - vegetable • bok choy
噌 cēng - noisy • miso
茶 chá - tea • chai, tea
禅 chán - meditation • Zen
长 cháng - long • cheongsam, Chang river
场 chǎng - yard • dojo
炒 chǎo - stir-fry • chow mein, chow
车 chē - car, vehicle • ricksha
陈 chén - arrange; a surname • Jackie Chan
川 chuān - river • Szechwan
春 chūn - spring • shunga
大 dà - big • daimyo, dazibao, tycoon, typhoon
党 dǎng - party • Kuomintang
道 dào - way • aikido, bushido, dojo, judo, kendo, Shinto, Tao, tae kwon do
点 diǎn - order • dim sum
东 dōng - east • Canton, Guangdong, Tokyo
豆 dòu - bean • tofu
都 dū - capital, metropolis • Kyoto
阀 fá - wealthy person or family • zaibatsu
风 fēng - wind • feng shui, typhoon
夫 fū - man • kung fu
芙蓉 fúróng - hibiscus • egg foo young
腐 fǔ - rotten • tofu
腹 fù - belly • seppuku
港 gǎng - port • Hong Kong
工 gōng - work • gung ho, qigong
功 gōng - merit • kung fu
公 gōng - fair, public • koan
宫 gōng - palace • kung pao
狗 gǒu - dog • chow
广 guǎng - wide • Canton, Guangdong
鬼 guǐ - ghost • gwailo
锅 guō - wok • wok
国 guó - country • Chung-kuo, Kuomintang, Zhongguo
海 hǎi - sea • Shanghai
汉 Hàn - Han dynasty • Han, hanzi, kanji
毫 háo - down, hair • pekoe
好 hǎo - good • nihao
合 hé - unite, together • aikido, gung ho, hapkido
河 hé - river • Huang Ho, Hanoi
湖 hú - lake • Hunan, Ho Chi Minh, Hu Jintao
华 huá - flowery, splendid; China • Xinhua
画 huà - picture • manga
黄 huáng - yellow • Huang Ho
馄 hún - irregular - won ton
极 jí - extreme • Tai Chi
剑 jiàn - sword • kendo
将 jiāng - use • mahjongg, shogun
江 jiāng - river • Yangtze Kiang
酱 jiàng - paste • soy
金 jīn - gold • kumquat
京 jīng - capital • Beijing, Nanjing, Tokyo, Kyoto
经 jīng - classic; stable • I Ching
橘 jú - orange • kumquat, loquat
句 jù - sentence • haiku
军 jūn - army • shogun
君 jūn - monarch • tycoon
空 kōng - sky, empty • taikonaut
孔 kǒng - hole • Confucius
叩 kòu - knock • kowtow
兰 lán - orchid • Mulan
浪 làng - wave • ronin
老 lǎo - old • Lao Tze, gwailo
里 lǐ - Chinese mile • li
荔 lì - lychee • lychee
力 lì -power • ricksha
林 lín - forest • Shaolin
龙 lóng - dragon • oolong
芦 lú - reed • loquat
乱 luàn - wild • Ranma
麻 má - hemp • mahjongg
马 mǎ - horse • Ranma
漫 màn - overflow, unrestricted • manga
毛 máo - fur, wool • Mao Zedong
门 mén - gate • Tiananmen
面 miàn - flour, noodles • chow mein
民 mín - people • Kuomintang
名 míng - name • daimyo
明 míng - bright; Ming dynasty • Ming, Ho Chi Minh, Meiji
木 mù - wood • Mulan
南 nán - south • Hunan, Nanjing, Viet Nam
內 nèi - inside • Hanoi
你 nǐ - you • nihao
俳 pái - amuse • haiku
盆 pén - basin • bonsai
皮 pí - skin • shar-pei
拼 pīn - join • pinyin
蒲 pú - type of reed • futon
气 qì - breath, spirit, vitality • aikido, qigong
切 qiē - cut • seppuku
秦 Qín - Chin dynasty • Chin, China, china
清 Qīng - pure; Ching dynasty • Ching
拳 quán - fist • Tai Chi Chuan, tae kwon do
人 rén - person • gaijin, ginseng, jinriksha, ronin
忍 rěn - endure • ninja
日 rì - sun • Japan
柔 róu - gentle • judo, jujitsu
三 sān - three • samisen, sampan
沙 shā - sand • shar-pei
山 shān - mountain • Shantung, Sun Yat-sen
衫 shān - clothes • cheongsam
上 shàng - upper • Shanghai
少 shào - young • Shaolin
参 shēn - ginseng • ginseng
神 shén - god • Shinto
生 shēng - born • sensei
狮 shī - lion • shihtzu
术 shù - art • jujitsu
水 shuǐ - water • feng shui
丝 sī - silk • silk
四 sì - four • Szechwan
岁 suì - year • banzai
碎 suì - piece • chop suey
孙 sūn - grandson • Sun Yat-sen
台 tái - platform • Taiwan, Taipei
跆 tái - trample, kick • tae kwon do
太 tài - too • Tai Chi, taikonaut
堂 táng - meeting hall • tong
唐 Táng - Tang dynasty • Tang
天 tiān - sky, heaven • Tiananmen
头 tóu - head • kowtow
团 tuán - ball, body, organization • futon
外 wài - outside, foreign • gaijin
湾 wān - bay • Taiwan
万 wàn - 10,000 • banzai
王 wáng - king • (Faye or Kar-Wai) Wong, wang-khan
味 wèi - taste • miso, samisen
乌 wū - black • oolong
武 wǔ - war • bushido
先 xiān - first • sensei
弦 xián - string • shamshin (earliest cite for samisen)
线 xiàn - thread • samisen
香 xiāng - fragrant • Hong Kong
小 xiǎo - small • souchong
心 xīn - heart • dim sum
新 xīn - new • Xinhua
杏 xìng - apricot • ginkgo
阳 yáng - sun, bright, masculine • yang
扬 yáng - raise • Yangtze
艺 yì - art • geisha
易 yì - change, easy • I Ching
音 yīn - sound • pinyin
阴 yīn - moon, dark, feminine • yin
银 yín - silver • ginkgo
瘾 yǐn - addiction - yen
英 yīng - outstanding; English • yingzi
油 yóu - sauce • soy
元 yuán - round; currency (etymologically 圆, but now written with the character for ‘first’) • yen, yuan
杂 zá - mixed • chop suey
栽 zāi - plant • bonsai
张 zhāng - open, look • Fuschia Chang
者 zhě - person • geisha, ninja
汁 zhī - juice • ketchup
治 zhì - govern • Meiji
志 zhì - will, aspiration • Ho Chi Minh
中 zhōng - middle • Chung-kuo, Zhongguo
种 zhǒng - sort • souchong
周 zhōu - middle • Zhou Enlai, Chow Yun-Fat
子 zǐ - son, diminutive • Confucius, Lao Tze, shihtzu, Yangtze
字 zì - character • dazibao, hanzi, kanji
左 zuǒ - left (hand); a surname • General Tso’s chicken

Pronunciation tips

Chinese seems designed to defeat romanizers-- there’s no system that suggests pronunciations to English speakers without explanations. The pinyin romanization used in the above list shouldn’t be read as if it were English. It would take pages and sound clips to teach really correct pronunciation; but you can use these rules as a starting point:

Consonants

VowelsTones

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