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chinez

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word chinez

chinez1 village headman, knyaz

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1400s the personal name Paul Chinezu
Borrowed from
Serbo-Croatian knez
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *kuningaz

Pronunciation

Forms

chinez m (plural chinezi)[1]

Etymology

The word for the village headman is borrowed from Serbo-Croatian knez (“prince; village headman”), as the DA, DLRLV and DEX state.[2][3][4] Cihac, Tiktin and CADE see it as borrowed from Hungarian kenéz instead, itself from Serbian;[5][6] DEX and Ciorănescu name both possible sources, and DELR puts the Hungarian one first.[5][6][7][8][1] Tamás shows that both are possible: the Hungarian variant kinez also existed, which matches the Romanian exactly, while Romanian dialects break up the initial cluster /kn/ as well, as in chimet from Serbian kmet; only the variant chenez is clearly Hungarian.[9] The Hungarian word is South Slavic and recorded from 1055.[10]

The Slavic word is Old Church Slavonic кънѧѕь (kŭnędzĭ, “prince”), from Proto-Slavic *kъnędzь, a borrowing of Proto-Germanic *kuningaz (“king”), the source of German König.[7][11][1] cneaz is a doublet, taken from Slavonic and Russian.[8][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's earliest record is the 15th-century personal name Paul Chinezu; the DA calls this Pavel Chinezul a warrior of that century.[5][2] Ciorănescu says the office is attested from the 13th century in Transylvania and Wallachia: a leader of a free community covering a district or a valley, with lifelong administrative and judicial powers.[7]

Semantic evolution

In Banat and Oltenia the word lived on for the elected village headman, mayor and judge.[7][2] Klein's dictionary of 1801 already equates it with birău and jude.[12] The Transylvanian scholars used chenez and the learned chenezat “principality” for the old Romanian knyazates from 1812.[8] In Banat the verb chineji “to serve as mayor” was formed on it.[2] In the historical sense it survives only in surnames.[13][2]

Timeline

  • 15th century – the personal name Paul Chinezu.[5]
  • 1801 – chinez “headman, judge” in Klein's dictionary.[12]
  • 1812 – chenez in Maior's history and chenezat in Șincai's chronicle.[8]
  • 1908 – “village mayor” in the magazine Ion Creangă, MDA2's first record.[13]
  • 1929 – the verb chineji “to be mayor”.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (historical) A knyaz, the leader of a district or of a free community.[7][13]
  2. (dated, regional: Banat, Oltenia) A village headman, mayor and judge.[4][13]

Word family

  • chineji
  • chinezat

chinez2 Chinese

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1830 Ion Văcărescu
Ultimate origin
Romanian China,-ez

Pronunciation

Forms

chinez m or n (feminine singular chineză, masculine plural chinezi, feminine/neuter plural chineze)[1]

Etymology

The word for “Chinese” is formed from Romanian China + -ez.[4][14][1] Tiktin and DA also derive it from the country's name, and the DA adds the model of Italian chinese.[5][15] DELR prefers an adaptation of Italian cinese, German Chinese and French chinois to the place name, which probably came through Modern Greek Κίνα (Kína) from Portuguese China and goes back to a language of India.[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Ion Văcărescu's poems, in 1830.[15][5] The adjective chinezesc is older, from 1802.[15]

Semantic evolution

Because Chinese was the type of an unintelligible language, chinez came to mean someone who knows nothing about a subject, and a face pe chinezul is to pretend not to understand.[16][13] Caragiale has the phrase: „prea te faci chinez” “you are playing dumb”.[5][17] The feminine chineza names the language.[4] In underworld slang a chinez is a year of a prison sentence.[18]

Timeline

  • 1802 – the adjective chinezesc in Beldiman.[15]
  • 1830 – chinez in Ion Văcărescu.[15][5]
  • 1852 – the adverb chinezește.[15]
  • 1857 – chinezărie “chinoiserie”, after French.[15]
  • 1930 – the feminine noun chinezoaică.[15]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A Chinese person, someone from China.[4][13]
  2. (figurative, derogatory) Someone wholly ignorant of a subject;[13][16] a face pe chinezul “to play dumb”.[13][16]
  3. (feminine) chineza: the Chinese language.[4]

Adjective

  1. Chinese, of China or the Chinese; chinezesc.[4][13]

Word family

  • chinezărie
  • chinezesc
  • chinezește
  • chinezism
  • chinezoaică
  • cneaz
  • cnezat
  • China

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. chinez
  3. ^ Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 101
  4. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 179
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. chinez
  6. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. chinez
  7. ^ a b c d e Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. chinez
  8. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. cneaz
  9. ^ Tamás, Lajos (1966), Etymologisch-historisches Wörterbuch der ungarischen Elemente im Rumänischen, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 206
  10. ^ Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 442
  11. ^ Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. s.v. князь
  12. ^ a b Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 333
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 382
  14. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. chinez
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. chinez
  16. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 270
  17. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 125
  18. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. chinez

Related etymologies

  • gata · also from Serbo-Croatian
  • haină · also from Serbo-Croatian
  • grădină · also from Serbo-Croatian
  • tur · also from Serbo-Croatian
  • tău · also from Hungarian
  • baie · also from Hungarian
  • suci · also from Hungarian
  • must · also from Hungarian
Cite this entry

“Chinez.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/chinez. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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