Word
mandarin
Phoneticsman·darin
US/ˈmændɝən/
UK/mˈændəɹˌɪn/
Definitions
01the language
n. the official language of China and one of the most spoken languages in the world.
n. the standard variety of Chinese that serves as the official language of China and Taiwan.
“She is taking a class to learn how to speak Mandarin before her trip to Beijing.”
“While many regional dialects exist across the country, Mandarin serves as the lingua franca for government, education, and national media.”
Synonyms
02the fruit
n. a small, sweet type of orange with a skin that is easy to remove.
n. a small citrus fruit, Citrus reticulata, characterized by a thin, loose skin and sweet flesh.
“The children ate a mandarin for their afternoon snack because it was easy to peel.”
“The chef added segments of fresh mandarin to the salad to provide a bright, acidic contrast to the rich duck confit.”
Synonyms
03a powerful official
n. a powerful government official, especially one who has been in their job for a long time.
n. a high-ranking government official or civil servant, often implying a position of significant behind-the-scenes influence.
“The new policy was designed by senior mandarins in the Treasury.”
“Despite the change in elected leadership, the permanent mandarins within the ministry ensured that long-term foreign policy remained largely unchanged.”
British English · Formal
Synonyms
04historical Chinese official
n. a high-ranking official in the former Chinese Empire.
n. a member of any of the nine ranks of high public officials in the Chinese Empire before 1911.
“The museum displayed the silk robes once worn by a high-ranking mandarin.”
“To become a mandarin, candidates had to pass rigorous imperial examinations based on Confucian classics and literary skill.”
Formal
05elitist or complex
adj. describing a style of writing or speaking that is very complex and intended for only a few people to understand.
adj. marked by elaborate refinement, complexity, or an elitist lack of clarity; often used to describe literary or academic prose.
“The professor's mandarin style of writing made his books very difficult for students to read.”
“Critics praised the novel's mandarin prose, though some readers found the dense allusions and intricate syntax somewhat exclusionary.”
Literary · Academic
Antonyms
Real-World Examples
“Xiang spoke for more than an hour in Mandarin before he took questions.” “The robot, known as Xiaogai, can speak Mandarin, Cantonese and English.” Etymology
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.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.