English Explanatory Dictionary

mandarin

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A high government bureaucrat of the Chinese Empire.
  2. A pedantic or elitist bureaucrat.
  3. A pedantic senior person of influence in academia or literary circles.
  4. Ellipsis of mandarin duck.
  5. A senior civil servant.
  6. A figurine of a Chinese person with movable head that was popular in the 1950s. (Cf. bobblehead.)
adj
  1. Pertaining to or reminiscent of mandarins; deliberately superior or complex; esoteric, highbrow, obscurantist.
noun
  1. Ellipsis of mandarin orange:
  2. A small, sweet citrus fruit.
  3. A tree of the species Citrus reticulata.
  4. An orange colour.
name
  1. Standard Mandarin, an official language of China and Taiwan, and one of four official languages in Singapore; Putonghua, Guoyu or Huayu.
  2. A branch of the Chinese languages, consisting of many dialects; Guanhua or Beifanghua.

Pronunciation

/ˈmæn.də.ɹɪn/ en-us-mandarin.ogg en-au-mandarin.ogg /mæn.dəˈɹɪn/ /ˈmæn.d(ə).ɹɪn/

Word forms

mandarin mandarins more mandarin most mandarin

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *men- Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-trom Proto-Indo-Iranian *mántras Sanskrit मन्त्र॑ (mántra) Proto-Indo-Iranian *-in- Sanskrit -इन् (-in) Sanskrit म॒न्त्रिन् (mantrín)bor. Malay menteribor. Portuguese mandarimbor. English mandarin From Portuguese mandarim, mandarij, from Malay menteri, manteri, and its source, Sanskrit मन्त्रिन् (mantrin, “minister, councillor”), from मन्त्र (mantra, “counsel, maxim, mantra”) + -इन् (-in, an agent suffix).

Synonyms

Beifanghua Guanhua Guoyu Huayu Mandarin Chinese Putonghua Standard Chinese Standard Mandarin Standard Spoken Chinese

Related words

Wiktionary’s coverage of Mandarin terms Hanyu Zhongwen

Derived words

Cleopatra mandarin lemandarin mandarinal mandarinate mandarin collar mandarindom mandariness mandarin fish mandarin gown mandarinic mandarining mandarinism mandarinize mandarinquat mandarinship mandarin square mandarin garnet Standard Mandarin Standarin
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