# Taiwan

> English word · Proper noun · IPA /ˌtaɪ̯ˈwɑn/ · frequency rank #6,746

## Definitions
1. A partly-recognized country in East Asia consisting of a main island and 167 smaller islands. Official name: Republic of China. Capital: Taipei.
2. An island between the Taiwan Strait and Philippine Sea in East Asia.
3. A former administrative division including Taiwan and nearby islands.
4. A former administrative division including Taiwan and nearby islands.
5. A former administrative division including Taiwan and nearby islands.
6. A former administrative division including Taiwan and nearby islands.
7. A former administrative division including Taiwan and nearby islands.
8. A former administrative division including Taiwan and nearby islands.
9. Synonym of Tainan, a city of Taiwan, former capital of Taiwan Province.
10. 2169 Taiwan, a main belt asteroid.

## Etymology
The specific form "Taiwan" in English emerged from the Wade–Giles Tʻai²-wan¹ romanization of Mandarin 臺灣／台湾 (Táiwān), and also perhaps the romaji of Japanese 臺灣(たいわん) (taiwan), both of which are ultimately from Literary Chinese 臺灣, from Hokkien 大員 (Tāi-oân), 大圓, 臺員, 大灣, 臺灣, and other forms, a placename initially referring to a sandbank peninsula that later silted up; now wholly part of the island in the area of modern-day Anping District, Tainan, and eventually became the name of the entire island. The original placename itself was originally likely the transcription of a loanword from Siraya.
Cognate with Dutch Tayouan / Taioan / Taiwan / etc., and other early variant forms of Hokkien 臺窩灣 /台窝湾 (Tâi-o-oân), etc.
The name is sometimes folk-etymologized to have originally meant "terraced bay" (臺灣 /台湾), "great bay" (大灣 /大湾), or similar parsings from interpretations of the Chinese characters alone.

## Easily confused with
- **tian** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/taiwan-vs-tian)
- **titan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/taiwan-vs-titan)
- **Tarzan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/taiwan-vs-tarzan)
- **tartan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/taiwan-vs-tartan)
- **Tasman** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/taiwan-vs-tasman)
- **Taliban** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/taiwan-vs-taliban)
- **taiga** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/taiga-vs-taiwan)

## Common misspellings (8)
`atiwan`, `taiawn`, `taiwann`, `taiwna`, `taiwwan`, `tawian`, `tiawan`, `ttaiwan`

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