Standard Lemma guide

baijiu

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈbaɪ.d͡ʒuː/
  • General-American: /ˈbaɪ.d͡ʒu/
  • rhymes with -aɪdʒuː

1

noun

Meaning 1

A clear Chinese distilled alcoholic beverage, generally distilled from sorghum and about 40–60% alcohol by volume.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: shaojiu, samshu

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 白酒 (báijiǔ, “white alcohol”), where "white" refers to its clearness. Compare huangjiu (“yellow alcohol”).

Across languages

Translations

14 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese: 江米酒 (kang-bí-chiú) — clear Chinese alcoholic beverage
  • Chinese Mandarin: 白酒 (báijiǔ) — clear Chinese alcoholic beverage
  • Chinese Mandarin: 燒酒 /烧酒 (shāojiǔ) — clear Chinese alcoholic beverage
  • Finnish: baijiu — clear Chinese alcoholic beverage
  • Finnish: shaojiu — clear Chinese alcoholic beverage
  • Japanese: 白酒 (shirozake) — clear Chinese alcoholic beverage
  • Japanese: パイチュウ (paichū) — clear Chinese alcoholic beverage
  • Japanese: バイジュウ (baijū) — clear Chinese alcoholic beverage
  • Korean: 백주 (baekju) — clear Chinese alcoholic beverage
  • Polish: baijiu — clear Chinese alcoholic beverage
  • Russian: байцзю́ (bajczjú) — clear Chinese alcoholic beverage
  • Russian: шаоцзю́ (šaoczjú) — clear Chinese alcoholic beverage
  • Uyghur: ئاق ھاراق (aq haraq) — clear Chinese alcoholic beverage
  • Zhuang: laeujsiu — clear Chinese alcoholic beverage