different between china vs chinaberry

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 china-ware and via this sense of Persian ???? (ch?n?) 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^(key): /?t?a?n?/
• (UK, obsolete) IPA^(key): /?t?e?n?/, /?t?i?n?/
• Rhymes: -a?n?

Noun

china (countable and uncountable, plural chinas)

1. (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.

2. (uncountable) Chinaware: porcelain tableware.
   • 1634, Thomas Herbert, A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, p. 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.

3. (uncountable, chiefly US, dated) Cheaper and lower-quality ceramic and ceramic tableware, distinguished from porcelain.
   • 1921 May 11, "Edison Questions Stir Up a Storm", 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.

4. (uncountable) Synonym of China root, the root of Smilax china (particularly) as a medicine.
5. (uncountable, obsolete) Synonym of cheyney: worsted or woolen stuff.
   • 1790, Alexander Wilson, Poems, p. 55:

     ...And then the last boon I'll implore,
     Is to bless us with China so tight...

6. (countable) Synonym of China rose, in its various senses.
   • 1844, Jane Loudon, The Ladies' Companion to the Flower Garden, 3rd ed., p. 344:

     Rosa indica (the common China); Rosa semperflorens (the monthly China).

7. (countable, Cockney rhyming slang, Australia, South Africa) Synonym of friend.
   • 1880, Daniel William Barrett, Life and Work among the Navvies, 2nd ed., p. 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 & al., Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases, p. 53:

     China, or Old China: chum.

8. (uncountable, dated) Tea from China, (particularly) varieties cured by smoking or opposed to Indian cultivars.
   • 1907, Yesterday's Shopping, p. 1:

     Tea... Finest China, Plain (Moning).

9. (countable, games, chiefly US, obsolete) A glazed china marble.
   • 1932 March, Dan Beard, "New-Fashioned Kites and Old-Fashioned Marbles", Boys' Life, p. 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.

10. (countable, music) A kind of drum cymbal approximating a Chinese style of cymbal, but usually with Turkish influences.
    • 2010, Carmine Appice, Drums for Everyone, p. 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-closet, china doll, china eye, china-fancier, china-glaze, china-house, china-hunter, china-like, china mark, china money, china-oven, china-painting, china-paints, china-shell, china-shop, china-stone, china-tipper, china token, china wedding

Translations

References

• “China, n.¹ and adj.”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1889
• “china”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary, (Please provide a date or year).

Anagrams

• Anich, Chain, Chian, chain

French

Verb

china

1. third-person singular past historic of chiner

Anagrams

• nicha

Italian

Etymology 1

Adjective form.

Adjective

china

1. feminine singular of chino

Etymology 2

From the verb chinare.

Noun

china f (plural chine)

1. slope, decline, descent

   Synonyms: pendio, declivio, discesa

Related terms

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Spanish quina, quinaquina, from Quechua.

Noun

china f (plural chine)

1. cinchona (tree)

Related terms

Etymology 4

From Portuguese China, namely "ink of China".

Noun

china f (plural chine)

1. Indian ink

Etymology 5

Verb form.

Verb

china

1. third-person singular present of chinare
2. second-person singular imperative of chinare

Japanese

Romanization

china

1. R?maji transcription of ??

Kalasha

Adjective

china

1. Alternative spelling of ?hína

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /??i.n?/
• Homophone: China

Etymology 1

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

Noun

china f (plural chinas)

1. (Rio Grande do Sul) a woman, especially one of Native American descent

Etymology 2

From China.

Noun

china m, f (plural chinas)

1. (dated or informal) Chinaman; Chinese; someone from China

   Synonym: chinês

Quechua

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t??ina/

Noun

china

1. female (of humans or animals)
2. a woman of low social status
3. servant, slavegirl

Declension

References

• “china” in Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua (2006) Diccionario quechua-español-quechua, 2nd edition, Cusco: Edmundo Pantigozo.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t??ina/, [?t??i.na]

Etymology 1

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

Noun

china f (plural chinas)

1. pebble, small stone (usually rounded)
2. (Venezuela) slingshot

Derived terms

• tirachinas

Related terms

• chin

Etymology 2

Adjective

china

1. feminine singular of chino

Noun

china f (plural chinas)

1. female equivalent of chino (“Chinese man”)

See also

• tinta china

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Quechua china (“female”).

Noun

china f (plural chinas)

1. (derogatory, South America) female servant in a hacienda
2. (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)

1. (Puerto Rico) orange (fruit)

References

English

Etymology

From China +? berry.

Noun

chinaberry (plural chinaberries)

1. (US) The bead tree or azedarac, Melia azedarach, a deciduous tree in the mahogany family Meliaceae, native to India, southern China and Australia, or its fruit.
2. (US) The soapberry (genus Sapindus, especially Sapindus saponaria), native to the Americas.
3. (US) Actaea rubra, a poisonous herbaceous flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, native to North America.

Synonyms

• (Melia azedarach): azedarach, Persian lilac, white cedar, cape lilac, syringa, bead tree
• (Actaea rubra): red baneberry, doll's eye

Translations