Standard Lemma guide
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
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adj
Pertaining to or reminiscent of mandarins; deliberately superior or complex; esoteric, highbrow, obscurantist.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
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name
Standard Mandarin, an official language of China and Taiwan, and one of four official languages in Singapore; Putonghua, Guoyu or Huayu.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
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name
A branch of the Chinese languages, consisting of many dialects; Guanhua or Beifanghua.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
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noun
A high government bureaucrat of the Chinese Empire.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: historical
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
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noun
A pedantic or elitist bureaucrat.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
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noun
A pedantic senior person of influence in academia or literary circles.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: derogatory, sometimes
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noun
Ellipsis of mandarin duck.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
Topics: biology, natural-sciences, ornithology
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
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noun
A senior civil servant.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, informal
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noun
A figurine of a Chinese person with movable head that was popular in the 1950s. (Cf. bobblehead.)
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
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noun
Ellipsis of mandarin orange:
A small, sweet citrus fruit.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
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noun
Ellipsis of mandarin orange:
A tree of the species Citrus reticulata.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
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noun
An orange colour.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
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noun
the dialect of Chinese spoken in Beijing and adopted as the official language for all of China
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin dialect, Beijing dialect
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: Chinese
noun
a somewhat flat reddish-orange loose skinned citrus of China
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: mandarin orange
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: citrus, citrus fruit, citrous fruit
Narrower terms: clementine, satsuma, tangerine
noun
a high public official of imperial China
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
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Broader terms: Chinese
noun
any high government official or bureaucrat
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
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Broader terms: official, functionary
noun
a member of an elite intellectual or cultural group
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
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Broader terms: elitist
noun
shrub or small tree having flattened globose fruit with very sweet aromatic pulp and thin yellow-orange to flame-orange rind that is loose and easily removed; native to southeastern Asia
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: mandarin orange, mandarin orange tree, Citrus reticulata
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: citrus, citrus tree
Narrower terms: tangerine, tangerine tree, clementine, clementine tree, satsuma, satsuma tree
History
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).
Calque from Chinese 官話/官话 (Guānhuà, “spoken language of the mandarins”). 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.
From French mandarine, feminine of mandarin, probably formed as Etymology 1, above, from the yellow colour of the mandarins' costume.
Across languages
145 source translations are retained for this English entry.
