# china
## English
### Alternative forms

* China (generally dated)
* (dialectal): chiney, cheny, cheney, chenea, chainy, chaney, chany, chaynee, chayney, cheenie, cheeny, chainé

### Etymology

From clippings of attributive use of China, q.v., the country in East Asia. In reference to porcelain and porcelain objects, via clipping of chinaware and via this sense of Persian چین (čini) in Persia and India, which influenced the pronunciation (see below). In reference to medicine, via clipping of China root. In reference to flowers, via clipping of China rose. In reference to tea, via clipping of China tea. In Cockney slang, a clipping of china plate as a rhyme of mate (“friend”). In reference to drum cymbals, a clipping of China cymbal and as a genericization of a kind of Zildjian-brand cymbal.

### Pronunciation

* (UK, US) IPA: /ˈt͡ʃaɪnə/
** Audio (UK):(file)
** Audio (US):(file)
** Audio (General Australian):(file)
* (obsolete) IPA: /ˈtʃeɪnɪ/, /ˈtʃiːnɪ/
* Rhymes: -aɪnə

### Noun

china (countable and uncountable, plural chinas)
* (uncountable) Synonym of porcelain, a hard white translucent ceramic made from kaolin, now (chiefly US) sometimes distinguished in reference to tableware as fine or good china.
    It's a china doll.
* (uncountable) Chinaware: porcelain tableware.
** 1634, Thomas Herbert, A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, page 41:They sell Callicoes, Cheney Sattin, Cheney ware.
** 1653, Henry Cogan translating Fernão Mendes Pinto as The Voyages and Adventures of Fernand Mendez Pinto, p. 206:
    ...a Present of certain very rich Pieces of China.
    He set the table with china, cloth napkins, and crystal stemware.
    The traditional 20th anniversary gift is china.
* (uncountable, chiefly US, dated) Cheaper and lower-quality ceramic and ceramic tableware, distinguished from porcelain.
** 1921 May 11, “Edison Questions Stir Up a Storm”, in New York Times:What is porcelain? A fine earthenware differing from china in being harder, whiter, harder to fuse and more translucent than ordinary pottery.
* (uncountable) Synonym of China root, the root of Smilax china (particularly) as a medicine.
** 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 5, member 1, subsection v:China, saith Manardus, makes a good colour in the face, takes away melancholy, and all infirmities proceeding from cold […].
* (uncountable, obsolete) Synonym of cheyney: worsted or woolen stuff.
** 1790, Alexander Wilson, Poems, page 55:...And then the last boon I'll implore, Is to bless us with China so tight...
* (countable) Synonym of China rose, in its various senses.
** 1844, Jane Loudon, The Ladies' Companion to the Flower Garden, 3rd edition, page 344:Rosa indica (the common China); Rosa semperflorens (the monthly China).
* (countable, Cockney rhyming slang, Australia, South Africa) Synonym of mate (rhyme of china-plate).
    All right, me old china?
** 1880, Daniel William Barrett, Life and Work among the Navvies, 2nd edition, page 41:‘Now, then, my china-plate...’ This is essentially a brick~layer's phrase. If for ‘china-plate’ you substitute ‘mate’, […] the puzzle is revealed.
** 1925, Edward Fraser et al., Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases, page 53:China, or Old China: chum.
* (uncountable, dated) Tea from China, (particularly) varieties cured by smoking or opposed to Indian cultivars.
** 1907, Yesterday's Shopping, page 1:Tea... Finest China, Plain (Moning).
* (countable, games, chiefly US, obsolete) A glazed china marble.
** 1932 March, Dan Beard, “New-Fashioned Kites and Old-Fashioned Marbles”, in Boys' Life, page 27:The marbles, in those days, had their primitive names. The unglazed china ones were called plasters because they looked like plaster; the glazed china marbles were called chinas. I remember how charming were the partly colored lines which encircled them.
* (countable, music) A kind of drum cymbal approximating a Chinese style of cymbal, but usually with Turkish influences.
** 2010, Carmine Appice, Drums for Everyone, page 78:China cymbals are a type of short sound cymbal. [Brand X] makes chinas with really short sounds.

#### Derived terms

* bone china
* bull in a china shop
* china-blue
* china blue
* china clay
* china-closet
* china doll
* china eye
* china-fancier
* china-glaze
* china-house
* china-hunter
* china-like
* chinalike
* china mark
* china marker
* china money
* china-oven
* china-painting
* china-paints
* china pencil
* china-shell
* china-shop
* china-stone
* china-tipper
* china token
* china wedding
* pseudochina

#### Translations
### References

* “China, n.¹ and adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1889.
* “china”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

### Anagrams

* hican, Chi-an, chain, Chain, Chian, Anich, Achin

## Asturian
### Adjective

china
* feminine singular of chinu

## French
### Verb

china
* third-person singular past historic of chiner

### Anagrams

* nicha

## Italian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈki.na/
* Rhymes: -ina
* Hyphenation: chì‧na

### Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Adjective

china f sg
* feminine singular of chino

### Etymology 2

Deverbal from chinare +‎ -a.

#### Noun

china f (plural chine)
* slope, decline, descent
    Synonyms: pendio, declivio, discesa

##### Related terms

* chinare
* chinato

### Etymology 3

Borrowed from Spanish quina, quinaquina, from Quechua.

#### Noun

china f (plural chine)
* cinchona (tree)

##### Related terms

* chinidina
* chinina

### Etymology 4

From Portuguese China, namely "ink of China".

#### Noun

china f (plural chine)
* Indian ink

### Etymology 5

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

china
* inflection of chinare:
** third-person singular present indicative
** second-person singular imperative

## Japanese
### Romanization

china
* Rōmaji transcription of ちな

## Kalasha
### Adjective

china
* Alternative spelling of čhína

## Macanese
### Noun

china (plural china-china)
* a Chinese person, especially from mainland China
* (collective) the Chinese
    China tâ dismanchâ baracaThe Chinese are taking down the scaffolding

#### Synonyms

* náchi

### Adjective

china
* Chinese (from or relating to China)

### Derived terms

* Ano-Novo-China (“Chinese New Year”)
* auto-china (“Chinese opera”)
* cám china, cachôro-china (“dog whose bark is worse than his bite”)
* china di lête (“dairyman”)
* china falâ (“as the Chinese say”)
* china-merenda (“Chinese snack-seller”)
* china pobre (“beggar”)
* china-rico (“Chinese magnate”)
* mestre-china (“Chinese healer”)
* ramendâ china-china (“just like the Chinese”)
* téra-china (“mainland China”)

### References

* https://www.macaneselibrary.org/pub/english/uipatua.htm

## Portuguese
### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈʃĩ.nɐ/
* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈʃĩ.nɐ/
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /ˈʃi.na/
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈʃi.nɐ/
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈʃi.nɐ/
** (Northern Portugal) IPA: /ˈt͡ʃi.nɐ/
* Homophone: China

### Etymology 1

Borrowed from Spanish china, from Quechua china (“female”).

#### Noun

china f (plural chinas)
* (Rio Grande do Sul) a woman, especially one of Native American descent
* (Rio Grande do Sul, derogatory) a prostitute

### Etymology 2

From China.

#### Noun

china m or f by sense (plural chinas)
* (dated or informal) Chinaman; Chinese; someone from China
    Synonym: chinês

## Quechua
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈt͡ʃɪ.na/

### Noun

china
* female (of humans or animals)
* a woman of low social status
* servant, slavegirl

#### Descendants

* → Spanish: china (“female servant”)

### References

* Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua (2005) Diccionario quechua-español-quechua/Qheswa-español-qheswa simi taqe‎, Cuzco: Regional Government of Cuzco

## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈt͡ʃina/ [ˈt͡ʃi.na]
* Rhymes: -ina
* Syllabification: chi‧na

### Etymology 1

From the infantile/nursery word chin, a children's guessing game.

#### Noun

china f (plural chinas)
* pebble, small stone (usually rounded)
* (Venezuela) slingshot

##### Derived terms

* enchinar
* tirachinas

##### Related terms

* chin

### Etymology 2
#### Noun

china f (plural chinas)
* female equivalent of chino (“Chinese man”)
* china (porcelain)
* (Puerto Rico) orange, sweet orange
* (colloquial, Cuba) chickenpox
    Synonym: varicela

#### Adjective

china
* feminine singular of chino

### Etymology 3

Borrowed from Quechua china (“female”).

#### Noun

china f (plural chinas)
* (derogatory, South America) female servant in a hacienda
* (Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua) babysitter
    Synonym: niñera

### Etymology 4

Allusion to the orange fruit's Asian origin (as in sinensis in Citrus sinensis).

#### Noun

china f (plural chinas)
* (Puerto Rico) orange (fruit)

### References

* ↑ “china”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10
* ↑ Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN

### Further reading

* “china”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10