Mandarin

Meaning

Noun

• Standard Mandarin, an official language of China and Taiwan, and one of four official languages in Singapore; Putonghua, Guoyu or Huayu
• A branch of the Chinese languages, consisting of many dialects; Guanhua or Beifanghua.

Related

Similar words

• Beifanghua, Guanhua, Guoyu, Huayu, Mandarin Chinese, Putonghua, Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin, Standard Spoken Chinese

Origin

• . An extension of mandarin to the language used by the imperial court and sometimes by imperial officials elsewhere. As such, it was adopted as a synonym for Modern Standard Chinese in the 20th century. The term became ambiguous, however, as its use was extended to the various Northern dialects of Chinese.