Chinese is the language of China and the adjective for the country and its people. Chinese food, a Chinese friend, learn Chinese.
It is always capitalised. Strictly, Chinese is a family of related languages rather than one: Mandarin is the standard spoken form and much the largest, with Cantonese, Wu and others alongside it. They share one writing system, which is why speakers who cannot understand each other can read the same page. In Britain, a Chinese also informally means a takeaway meal. Note Chinese whispers, the British name for the game of a message distorted down a line.
1adjectivechineseBelonging to China or its people.
“The Chinese coast runs for about fourteen thousand kilometres.”
2nounmandarinThe language or languages of China.
“He learned Chinese properly in his forties.”
synonyms: Mandarin
chinese is a nationality or language.
Also accepted in games: mandarin
Chinese comes from China + -ese under influence of Portuguese chinês, replacing older Chinish. a doublet of chinois. In its orientalist sense of "generically exotic, backwards, or poorly organized", sometimes a deliberate marketing strategy to increase sales, as with the German Chinese checkers. In its sense related to the orientation of stage lighting's barn doors, a reference to a supposed resemblance to East Asian eyes.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in News & Communication