# Chinese

> English word · Adjective · IPA /t͡ʃaɪˈniːz/ · frequency rank #1,045

## Definitions
1. Of, from, or related to China, particularly now the People's Republic of China.
2. Of, from, or related to the people of China, particularly the Han Chinese and their culture whether in China or overseas.
3. Of, from, or related to a language native to Han Chinese persons, often used generally of Chinese characters or particularly to refer to Standard Mandarin.
4. As exotic, unusual, backwards, or unorganized as someone or something from China.
5. Used with a noun to indicate a referent different from, and seemingly more exotic or unusual than, the base noun's referent.
6. Having barn doors with a horizontal orientation.

## Etymology
From China + -ese under influence of Portuguese chinês, replacing older Chinish. Doublet of chinois. In its orientalist sense of "generically exotic, backwards, or poorly organized", sometimes a deliberate marketing strategy to increase sales, as with the German Chinese checkers. In its sense related to the orientation of stage lighting's barn doors, a reference to a supposed resemblance to East Asian eyes.

## Easily confused with
- **chins** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/chinese-vs-chins)
- **chives** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/chinese-vs-chives)
- **cheese** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cheese-vs-chinese)
- **chimes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/chimes-vs-chinese)

## Common misspellings (10)
`cchinese`, `chhinese`, `chiense`, `chinees`, `chinesse`, `chinnese`, `chinsee`, `chniese`, `cihnese`, `hcinese`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/chinese