Chinatown
Chi·na·town/ˈt͡ʃaɪnəˌtaʊn/noun
Chinatown is a noun meaning “A district of a city or town (in a country other than China) in which there is a large concentration of Chinese residents and businesses” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled C-H-I-N-A-T-O-W-N and has 3 syllables (Chi·na·town), and it appears 2.1 times per million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of Chinatown is Chinatowns.
What does Chinatown mean?
noun
- 1
A district of a city or town (in a country other than China) in which there is a large concentration of Chinese residents and businesses.
- 2
proscribedA similar district filled with East Asians and Southeast Asians.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce Chinatown?
- UK /ˈtʃaɪnətaʊn/
- US /ˈt͡ʃaɪnəˌtaʊn/
Chinatown has 3 syllables, split Chi·na·town in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-Chinatown.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of Chinatown
- Chinatowns plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is Chinatown?
Chinatown appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 19,077th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Chinatown in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense a Chinese district outside China:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | quartier chinois |
| German | Chinatown, Chinesenstadt |
| Portuguese | Chinatown |
| Spanish | barrio chino |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does Chinatown come from?
From China + town.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).