chinois

Pronunciation

• IPA (France): /ʃi.nwa/^[1]
• IPA (Quebec): /ʃi.nwa/^[1]
• IPA (Quebec): /ʃi.nwɑ/^[1]

Forms

chinois (feminine chinoise, masculine plural chinois, feminine plural chinoises)^[1] Also chinese (1602).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French Chine + -ois.^[4][1][3] Rey explains the name of the country as an adaptation of an Indian name meaning “the land of Qin”, after the first dynasty to rule all China in the 3rd century BC; the Chinese name itself means “the middle country”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Petit Robert and Rey date it to 1575; the TLFi's first dated text, Palma Cayet's Chronologie septenaire (1605), uses it as a noun for an inhabitant of China.^[5][2][4]

Semantic evolution

À la chinoise, in the Chinese style, appears in a royal furniture inventory of 1675.^[4] The noun for the language is found in 1616 in a translation of Trigault's account of the Jesuit mission, earlier than the TLFi's 1803 (Chateaubriand).^[6][4] In the 19th century the French image of China gave figurative senses: c'est du chinois, incomprehensible language (1790), chinois de paravent, a grotesque figure (1808), and un chinois, an odd person or a hair-splitter (1820).^[2][4] Concrete senses followed: a small green orange preserved in brandy (1845), and in the 20th century a fine conical strainer, from its likeness to a Chinese hat.^[2][1] Familiar French uses un chinois for a Chinese or East Asian restaurant, and in Réunion and Guiana for a grocer.^[2][5] Chinoiserie (1838) named objects from China and then needlessly complicated formalities.^[7]

Timeline

• 1575 – First recorded.^[5][2]
• 1605 – An inhabitant of China, in Palma Cayet.^[4]
• 1616 – The Chinese language.^[6]
• 1675 – À la chinoise.^[4]
• 1790 – Du chinois, gibberish.^[2]
• 1820 – Un chinois, an odd person.^[2]
• 1838 – The derivative chinoiserie.^[7]
• 1845 – A small preserved orange.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Chinese, of China or its people: l'écriture chinoise, le quartier chinois.^[5][8]
2. In the Chinese style: ombres chinoises, casse-tête chinois.^[5][9]
3. (familiar) Needlessly complicated; fussy, hair-splitting: il est trop chinois.^[10][8]

Noun

1. Chinois, Chinoise: a Chinese person.^[1][5]
2. The Chinese language, c'est du chinois: it is incomprehensible, “it's all Greek”.^[1][2]
3. (cooking) A fine conical strainer.^[1][2]
4. A small green orange preserved in brandy.^[2][9]
5. (familiar) A Chinese restaurant.^[5][2]

Word family

• chinoiserie
• chinoisement

Related words

• Chine
• sino-

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
5. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse