mandarin
man·da·rin/ˈmæn.də.ɹɪn/noun, adjective
mandarin is spelled M-A-N-D-A-R-I-N: 8 letters and 3 syllables (man·da·rin). It appears 3.3 times per million words in written English, the 14,509th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, mandarin means “A high government bureaucrat of the Chinese Empire” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of mandarin is mandarins.
How many letters and syllables are in mandarin?
| Letters | 8: M-A-N-D-A-R-I-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: man·da·rin |
| In writing | 3.3 times per million words; the 14,509th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is mandarin?
Mandarin appears 3.3 times per million words in written English, the 14,509th 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).
How do you pronounce mandarin?
- US /ˈmæn.də.ɹɪn/
- UK /mæn.dəˈɹɪn/
Mandarin has 3 syllables, split man·da·rin in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-mandarin.ogg, En-au-mandarin.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of mandarin
- mandarins plural
- more mandarin comparative
- most mandarin superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mandarin mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A high government bureaucrat of the Chinese Empire.
- 2
A pedantic or elitist bureaucrat.
- 3
derogatoryA pedantic senior person of influence in academia or literary circles.
- 4
Ellipsis of mandarin duck.
- 5
UKinformalA senior civil servant.
- 6
A figurine of a Chinese person with movable head that was popular in the 1950s. (Cf. bobblehead.)
- 7
A small, sweet citrus fruit.
- 8
A tree of the species Citrus reticulata.
- 9
An orange colour.
adjective
- 1
Pertaining to or reminiscent of mandarins; deliberately superior or complex; esoteric, highbrow, obscurantist.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mandarin in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Chinese Imperial bureaucrat:
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 mandarin come from?
From Portuguese mandarim, mandarij, from Malay menteri, manteri, and its source, Sanskrit मन्त्रिन् (mantrin, “minister, councillor”), from मन्त्र (mantra, “counsel, maxim, mantra”) + -इन् (-in, an agent suffix).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).