mandarin

Meanings

Noun

• A high government bureaucrat of the Chinese Empire.
• A pedantic or elitist bureaucrat.
• A pedantic senior person of influence in academia or literary circles.
• A senior civil servant.
• An orange colour.

Adjective

• pertaining to or reminiscent of mandarins; deliberately superior or complex; esoteric, highbrow, obscurantist

Origin

• From Portuguese mandarim, mandarij, from Malay menteri, manteri, and its source, Sanskrit मन्त्रिन्, from मन्त्र + -इन्.
• In Chinese folk etymology, the word originates from Mandarin 滿大人.
• From French mandarine, feminine of mandarin, probably formed as Etymology 1, above, from the yellow colour of the mandarins' costume.