Mandarin
English
Etymology
An extension of mandarin (“bureaucrat of the Chinese Empire”) to the language used by the imperial court and sometimes by imperial officials elsewhere. As such, it was adopted as a synonym for Modern Standard Chinese in the 20th century. The term became ambiguous, however, as its use was extended to the various Northern dialects of Chinese.
Pronunciation
- (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈmæn.də.ɹɪn/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
Mandarin (uncountable)
Usage notes
- Standard Mandarin (language of the media and education) and Mandarin Chinese (the group of Northern Chinese dialects together with Standard Mandarin) are not always interchangeable and are referred to differently in Chinese. Both are a part of the broader group of languages (see Chinese: Zhongwen, Hanyu), dialects, or topolects.
Synonyms
- Beifanghua, Guanhua, Guoyu, Huayu, Mandarin Chinese, Putonghua, Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin, Standard Spoken Chinese
Translations
Standard Mandarin — See also translations at Chinese
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a branch of the Chinese languages
See also
- Wiktionary's coverage of Mandarin terms
- Appendix:Mandarin Swadesh list for a Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words in Mandarin
- Hanyu
- Zhongwen
Further reading
- ISO 639-3 code cmn (SIL)
- Ethnologue entry for Mandarin, cmn
German
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Noun
Mandarin m (genitive Mandarins or Mandarines, plural Mandarine)
- mandarin (Chinese Imperial official)
Descendants
- → Hungarian: mandarin
Synonyms
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