china
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: entertainment
games
lifestyle
music
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 چینی (čīnī /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.
Inflected forms:
form: chinas
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: China
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: chiney
pos: noun
tags: alternative
dialectal
form: cheny
pos: noun
tags: alternative
dialectal
form: cheney
pos: noun
tags: alternative
dialectal
form: chenea
pos: noun
tags: alternative
dialectal
form: chainy
pos: noun
tags: alternative
dialectal
form: chaney
pos: noun
tags: alternative
dialectal
form: chany
pos: noun
tags: alternative
dialectal
form: chaynee
pos: noun
tags: alternative
dialectal
form: chayney
pos: noun
tags: alternative
dialectal
form: cheenie
pos: noun
tags: alternative
dialectal
form: cheeny
pos: noun
tags: alternative
dialectal
form: chainé
pos: noun
tags: alternative
dialectal
Senses:
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: It's a china doll.
gloss: Chinaware: porcelain tableware.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: They sell Callicoes, Cheney Sattin, Cheney ware.
...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.
gloss: Cheaper and lower-quality ceramic and ceramic tableware, distinguished from porcelain.
pos: noun
tags: US
dated
uncountable
examples: What is porcelain? A fine earthenware differing from china in being harder, whiter, harder to fuse and more translucent than ordinary pottery.
gloss: Synonym of China root, the root of Smilax china (particularly) as a medicine.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: China, saith Manardus, makes a good colour in the face, takes away melancholy, and all infirmities proceeding from cold […].
gloss: Synonym of cheyney: worsted or woolen stuff.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
uncountable
examples: ...And then the last boon I'll implore,
Is to bless us with China so tight...
gloss: Synonym of China rose, in its various senses.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: Rosa indica (the common China); Rosa semperflorens (the monthly China).
gloss: Synonym of mate (rhyme of china-plate).
pos: noun
tags: Australia
Cockney
South-Africa
countable
slang
examples: All right, me old china?
‘Now, then, my china-plate...’ This is essentially a brick~layer's phrase. If for ‘china-plate’ you substitute ‘mate’,[…] the puzzle is revealed.
China, or Old China: chum.
gloss: Tea from China, (particularly) varieties cured by smoking or opposed to Indian cultivars.
pos: noun
tags: dated
uncountable
examples: Tea... Finest China, Plain (Moning).
gloss: A glazed china marble.
pos: noun
tags: US
countable
obsolete
examples: 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.
gloss: A kind of drum cymbal approximating a Chinese style of cymbal, but usually with Turkish influences.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: China cymbals are a type of short sound cymbal. [Brand X] makes chinas with really short sounds.
Derived words: bone china
bull in a china shop
china-blue
china blue
china cabinet
china clay
china-closet
china doll
china eye
china-fancier
china-glaze
china-house
china-hunter
chinalike
china-like
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
like a bull in a china shop
pseudochina
Translations: