List of loanwords in Chinese

Loanwords have entered written and spoken Chinese from many sources, including ancient peoples whose descendants now speak Chinese. In addition to phonetic differences, varieties of Chinese such as Cantonese and Shanghainese often have distinct words and phrases left from their original languages which they continue to use in daily life and sometimes even in Mandarin. As a result of long-term direct relationships with northern peoples, starting from the pre-Christ period, there are many exchanges of words. In addition, there were times when northern tribes dominated China. Similarly, northern dialects include relatively greater numbers of loanwords from nearby languages such as Turkic, Mongolian, and Manchu(Tungusic).

Throughout China, Buddhism has also introduced words from Sanskrit and Pali. More recently, foreign invasion and trade since the First and Second Opium Wars of the mid-nineteenth century has led to prolonged contact with English, French, and Japanese. Although politically minded language reform under the Republic and People's Republic of China have generally preferred to use calques and neologisms in place of loanwords, a growing number – particularly from American English – have become current in modern Chinese. On the mainland, transcription into Chinese characters in official media and publications is directed by the Proper Names and Translation Service of the Xinhua News Agency and its reference work Names of the World's Peoples.

Since Hong Kong was under British control until 1997, Hong Kong Cantonese borrowed many words from English such as 巴士 (from the word "bus", Mandarin: bāshì, Cantonese: baa1 si2), 的士 (from "taxi", Man.: dīshì, Can.: dik1 si2), 芝士 (from "cheese", Man.: zhīshì, Can.: zi1 si6), and 麥當勞/麦当劳 (from "McDonald's", Man.: Màidāngláo, Can.: Mak6 dong1 lou4), and such loanwords have been adopted into Mandarin, despite them sounding much less similar to the English words than the Cantonese versions.

Foreign businesses and products are usually free to choose their own transliterations and typically select ones with positive connotations and phonetic similarity to their products: for example, 宜家 (IKEA) is "proper home". Owing to antonomasia and genericization, these can then enter general Chinese usage: for example Coca-Cola's 可口可乐 Man.: kěkǒu kělè ("delicious fun") has led to 可乐 Man.: kělè becoming the common Chinese noun for all colas.

Since the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War, relations between the ROC and PRC had been hostile, thus communication between Taiwan and mainland China became limited. For that reason, many loanwords and proper names became quite different from each other. For example, "cheese" in mainland China is 芝士 zhīshì, while cheese in Taiwan is 起司 qǐsī.

Sanskrit

Chinese Word	Pronunciation	Meaning	Original Word	Pronunciation	Original Meaning
剎那	chànà	instant	क्षण	kṣaṇa	instant
蘋果	píngguǒ	apple	बिम्बा	bimbā	apple
涅槃	nièpán	nirvana	निर्वाण	nirvāna	nirvana
舍利子	shèlìzi	relic	शरीर	śarīra	body
曇花	tánhuā	epiphyllum	उदुम्बर	udumbara	cluster fig tree
須彌山	xūmíshān	Mt. Sumeru	सुमेरु	sumeru	Mt. Sumeru
波羅蜜多	bōluómìduō	Pāramitā	पारमिता	pāramitā	perfection

Persian

Chinese Word	Pronunciation	Meaning	Original Word	Pronunciation	Original Meaning
巴刹	bāshā	bazar (market)	بازار	bāzār	bazar (market)
巴旦木	bādànmù	almond	بادام	bādām	almond
葡萄	pútáo	grape	باده or Bactrian *bādāwa	bāde	wine
獅子	shīzi	lion	شیر	šīr	lion
百里香	Bǎilǐxiāng	Thyme	آویشن	Avišan	Thyme

English

Chinese words of English origin have become more common in mainland China during its reform and opening and resultant increased contact with the West. Note that some of the words below originated in other languages but may have arrived in Chinese via English (for example "pizza/披萨" from Italian). English acronyms are sometimes borrowed into Chinese without any transcription into Chinese characters; for example "IT" (information technology), "PPT" (PowerPoint), "GDP" (Gross domestic product), "APP" (mobile app), "KTV" (karaoke), or "DVD". A rarer occurrence is the blending of the Latin alphabet with Chinese characters, as in "卡拉OK" ("karaoke"), “T恤” ("T-shirt"), "IP卡" ("internet protocol card"). In some instances, the loanwords exists side by side with neologisms that translate the meaning of the concept into existing Chinese morphemes. For instance, while the loanword for 'penicillin' is 盘尼西林 (pánníxīlín), a neologism that 'translates' the word was later coined, 青霉素 (qīngméisù), which means 'blue/green mold extract/essence'. In contemporary Chinese, neologisms using native Chinese morphemes tend to be favored over loanwords that are transliterations. In the case of penicillin, the term 青霉素 is used almost exclusively, while 盘尼西林 is viewed as an early 20th century relic. Similarly, 'science' is now known as 科学 (kēxué) 'subject/specialty study' rather than 赛因斯 (sàiyīnsī), though it should be pointed out that the characters 科学 were actually coined in the late 19th century by the Japanese as a kanji compound.

In the chart below, loanwords in Taiwan will be written in traditional characters and loanwords in mainland China will be written in simplified characters.

English	Pinyin	Chinese	Category	Notes
Amen	āmen	阿们	Religion
ammonia	āmóníyà	阿摩尼亚	Science & technology	Rarely used in mainland China
amoeba	āmǐbā	阿米巴	Science & technology
amoxicillin	āmòxīlín	阿莫西林	Health & medicine
ampere	ānpéi	安培	Science & technology
amphetamine	ānfēitāmìng	安非他命	Health & medicine
ampoule	ānbù	安瓿	Science & technology
antitrust	fǎntuōlāsī	反托拉斯	Politics
aspartame	āsībātián	阿斯巴甜	Food & drink
Aspirin	āsīpílín	阿斯匹林	Health & medicine
Baccarat	Bǎijiālè	百家乐	Arts & entertainment
bacon	péigēn	培根	Food & drink
bagel	bèiguǒ	贝果	Food & drink
ballet	bālěi	芭蕾	Arts & entertainment
bandage	bēngdài	绷带	Health & medicine
banjo	bānzhuóqín	班卓琴	Arts & entertainment
bar	(jiǔ)bā	吧、酒吧	Arts & entertainment
Baroque	bāluòkè, bāluókè	巴洛克、巴罗克	Arts & entertainment
bass	bèisī	贝司、贝斯	Arts & entertainment
bassoon	bāsōng	巴松	Arts & entertainment
bazooka	bāzǔkǎ	巴祖卡	Science & technology
beer	píjiǔ	啤酒	Food & drink
bikini	bǐjīní	比基尼	Clothing
bingo	bīnguǒ	宾果	Arts & entertainment
bit (unit of information)	bǐtè	比特	Science & technology
blog	bókè	博客	Culture & society
blues	bùlǔsī	布鲁斯	Arts & entertainment
bolero	bōláiluó	波莱罗	Arts & entertainment
bourgeois	bù'ěrqiáoyà	布尔乔亚	Politics
brandy	báilándì	白兰地	Food & drink
brownie	bùlǎngní	布朗尼	Food & drink
bullying	bàlíng	霸凌	Culture & society
bungee jumping	bèngjí	蹦极	Arts & entertainment
bus	bāshì	巴士	Transportation
bye-bye	bàibài	拜拜	Slang
caffeine	kāfēiyīn	咖啡因	Food & drink
calorie	kǎlùlǐ	卡路里	Science & technology
cancan	kāngkāngwǔ	康康舞	Arts & entertainment
cannon	jiānóngpào	加农炮	Science & technology
carat	kèlā	克拉	Science & technology
carbine	kǎbīnqiāng	卡宾枪	Science & technology
card	kǎpiàn	卡片	Science & technology	As the last element of a compound, kǎ 卡 alone is used, e.g. yínháng kǎ 银行卡 / 銀行卡 "Bank card (ATM card)".
carnival	jiāniánhuá	嘉年华	Arts & entertainment
cartel	kǎtè'ěr	卡特尔	Culture & society
cartoon	kǎtōng	卡通	Arts & entertainment
cashmere	kāishìmǐ	开士米	Clothing
celluloid	sàilùluò	赛璐珞	Science & technology
cement	shúiméntīng	水门汀	Science & technology	Dated in mainland China
cha-cha	qiàqiàwǔ	恰恰舞	Arts & entertainment
Champagne	xiāngbīn	香槟	Food & drink
cheese	qǐsī/qishì/zhīshì	起司、奇士、芝士	Food & drink	First two loanwords used in Taiwan, last used in mainland China
cherry	chēlízi	车厘子	Food & drink	Transliterated from plural, exclusively refers to black cherries in mainland China
chiffon	xuěfǎng, qìfēng	雪纺、戚风	Clothing, Food & drink	The first loanword refers to chiffon as a kind of fabric, the second refers to chiffon cake
chocolate	qiǎokèlì	巧克力	Food & drink
cider	xīdá	西打	Food & drink
cigar	xuějiā	雪茄	Food & drink
clone	kèlóng	克隆	Science & technology
coca, coke	kějiā, gǔkē	可加、古柯	Food & drink
Coca-Cola	kěkǒu kělè	可口可乐	Food & drink
cola	kělè	可乐	Food & drink
cocaine	kěkǎyīn	可卡因	Narcotics
cocoa	kěkě	可可	Food & drink
codeine	kědàiyīn	可待因	Health & medicine
coffee	kāfēi	咖啡	Food & drink
cookie	qǔqí	曲奇	Food & drink
cool	kù	酷	Slang
copy	kǎobèi	拷贝		Only used in the context of computers
sofa	shāfā	沙发	Housing
coup d'état	kǔdiédǎ	苦迭打	Politics
craton	kèlātōng	克拉通	Science & technology
cream	jìlián, qílín	忌廉、淇淋	Food & drink
crêpe	kělìbǐng	可丽饼	Food & drink
croissant	kěsòng	可颂	Food & drink
cumin	kūmíng	枯茗	Food & drink	Rarely used in mainland China, usually appears in compound words such as kūmíngqúan 枯茗醛 “cuminaldehyde”
curry	gālí	咖喱	Food & drink
cyanide	shān'āi	山埃	Science & technology	Rarely used in mainland China
Dacron	díquèliáng	的确良	Science & technology
daddy	diēdì	爹地	Slang
didgeridoo	díjílǐdùguǎn	迪吉里杜管	Arts & entertainment
disco	dísīkě	迪斯科	Arts & entertainment
domino	duōmǐnuò	多米诺	Arts & entertainment
drive-thru	déláisù	得来速	Food & drink
einsteinium	ài/āi	鑀、锿	Science & technology	First loanword used in Taiwan, second used in mainland China
Eucalyptus	yóujiālì	尤加利	Botany
eureka	yóulǐkǎ	尤里卡	Culture & society
fan	fěnsī	粉丝	Arts & entertainment	Transliterated from plural, also a term for cellophane noodles (fensi)
fantasy	fàntèxī	范特西	Arts & entertainment	Rarely used in mainland China
fascism	fǎxīsī	法西斯	Politics
fillet	fēilì	菲力	Food & drink	Usually refers to filet mignon
geek	jíkè	极客	Science & technology
ghetto	gédōu	隔都	Culture & society
go-kart	gāokǎchē	高卡车	Arts & entertainment
golf	gāo'ěrfū	高尔夫	Arts & entertainment
guitar	jítā	吉他	Arts & entertainment
hacker	hēikè	黑客	Science & technology
hallelujah	hālìlùyà	哈利路亚	Religion
hamburger	hànbǎobāo	汉堡包	Food & drink
hello	hālóu	哈喽	Greeting
heroin	hǎiluòyīn	海洛因	Narcotics
hippie	xīpíshì	嘻皮士	Culture & society
honey	hāní	哈尼	Slang	As a term of endearment
hysteria	xiēsīdǐlǐ	歇斯底里	Health & medicine
humour	yōumò	幽默	Culture & society
ice cream	bīngqílín	冰淇淋	Food & drink
jacket	jiākè	夹克	Clothing
jazz	juéshì	爵士	Arts & entertainment
Jeep	jípǔchē	吉普车	Transportation, organizations
jitterbug	jítèbā	吉特巴	Arts & entertainment
karaoke	kǎlā ok (kǎlāōukēi)	卡拉OK	Arts & entertainment
karting	kǎdīngchē	卡丁车	Transportation
ketamine	kètāmìng	克他命	Science & technology
khaki	kǎqí(sè)	卡其(色)	Clothing
koala	kǎolā	考拉	Animals
lace	lěisī	蕾丝	Clothing
lesbian	lěisībīan	蕾丝边	Culture & society
lacquer	làkè	腊克	Science & technology
laser	léishè	镭射	Science & technology
latte	nátiě	拿铁	Food & drink
lemon	níngméng	柠檬	Food & drink
limbo	língbōwǔ	凌波舞	Arts & entertainment
liquor	lìkǒujiǔ	利口酒	Food & drink
logic	luóji	逻辑	Science & technology
lottery	lètòu	乐透	Arts & entertainment
mankini	nánjīní	男基尼	Clothing
marathon	mǎlāsōng	马拉松	Arts & entertainment
margarine	màiqílín	麦淇淋	Food & drink	Dated in mainland China
marker	mǎkèbǐ	马克笔	Culture & society
massage	mǎshājī	马杀鸡	Culture & society	Rarely used in mainland China
metre	mǐ	米	Science & technology
meme	míyīn	迷因	Arts & entertainment
mini	mǐnǐ	迷你	Culture & society
microphone	màikèfēng	麦克风	Science & technology
model	mótèr	模特儿	Arts & entertainment
modern	módēng	摩登	Culture & society
mohair	mǎhǎimáo	马海毛	Clothing
mommy	māmi	妈咪	Slang
montage (film)	méngtàiqí	蒙太奇	Arts & entertainment
mosaic	mǎsàikè	马赛克	Arts & entertainment
motif	mǔtǐ, mú	母体、模	Arts & entertainment
motor	mǎdá	马达	Science & technology
motorcycle	mótuōchē	摩托车	Transportation
mousse	mùsī	慕斯	Food & drink
mozzarella	mòzālǐlā, mǎsūlǐlā	莫扎里拉、马苏里拉	Food & drink
muffin	mǎfēn, màifēn	玛芬、麦芬	Food & drink
mug	mǎkèbēi	马克杯	Food & drink
mummy	mùnǎiyī	木乃伊	Culture & society
Nazi	Nàcuì	纳粹	Politics, organization
neon	níhóng	霓虹	Science & technology
nicotine	nígǔdīng	尼古丁	Health & medicine
Nylon	nílóng	尼龙	Clothing
ohm	ōumǔ	欧姆	Science & technology
Olympics	Àolínpǐkè	奥林匹克	Organizations
opium	yāpiàn	鸦片	Narcotics
parfait	bāfēi	芭菲	Food & drink
parka	pàikè dàyī	派克大衣	Clothing
party	pàiduì	派对	Culture & society
penicillin	pánníxīlín	盘尼西林	Science & technology	Dated in mainland China
Pharaoh	fǎlǎo	法老	Culture & society
pickup truck	píkǎ	皮卡	Transportation
pie	pài	派	Food & drink
pizza	pīsà/bǐsà	披萨、比萨	Food & drink
plutonium	bù, bù	鈽、钚	Science & technology
poker	pūkè	扑克	Arts & entertainment	Refers to card games in general
polka	bō'ěrkǎ	波尔卡	Arts & entertainment
pudding	bùdīng	布丁	Food & drink
pump	bèng	泵	Science & technology
punk	péngkè	朋克	Arts & entertainment
rabbi	lābǐ	拉比	Religion
radar	léidá	雷达	Science & technology
romance	luómànshǐ, làngmàn	罗曼史、浪漫	Culture & society
rum	lǎngmǔjiu	朗姆酒	Food & drink
rumba	lúnbā	伦巴	Arts & entertainment
salad	shālà, shalǜ	沙拉、沙律	Food & drink
salmon	sānwényú	三文鱼	Food & drink
salon	shālóng	沙龙	Culture & society
sandwich	sānmíngzhì, sānwénzhì	三明治、三文治	Food & drink
sardine	shādīngyú	沙丁鱼	Food & drink
sauna	sāngná	桑拿	Health & medicine
saxophone	sàkèsī(fēng)	萨克斯、萨克斯风	Arts & entertainment
scooter	sùkèdá	速克达	Transportation	Rarely used in mainland China
shampoo	xiāngbō	香波	Health & medicine
sherry	xuělìjiǔ	雪利酒	Food & drink
shock	xīukè	休克	Health & medicine
sirloin	shālǎng, xīlěng	沙朗、西冷	Food & drink	First loanword used in Taiwan, second used in mainland China
snooker	sīnuòkè	斯诺克	Sports
sonar	shēngnà	声呐	Science & technology
soda	sūdá	苏打	Food & drink	sūdáshǔi 苏打水 is used when referring to soft drinks, xiǎosūdá 小苏打 is used when referring to baking soda
strawberry	shìduōpílí	士多啤梨	Food & drink	Rarely used in mainland China
Soviet	sūwéi'āi	苏维埃	Politics
sundae	shèngdài, xīndì	圣代、新地	Food & drink
talk show	tuōkǒuxiù	脱口秀	Culture & society
tango	tàngē	探戈	Arts & entertainment
tank	tǎnkè	坦克	Transportation
tannic acid	dānníngsuān	单宁酸	Science & technology
taxi	dīshì	的士	Transportation
tarot	tǎluó	塔罗	Culture & society
Teflon	tiěfúlóng, tèfùlóng	铁氟龙、特富龙	Science & technology	First loanword used in Taiwan, second used in mainland China
T-shirt	t xù (tīxù)	T恤	Clothing
telephone	délǜfēng	德律风	Arts & entertainment	Dated in mainland China
ten-pin bowling	bǎolíngqiú	保龄球	Arts & entertainment
TOEFL	tuōfú	托福	Organization
toffee	tàifēitáng	太妃糖	Food & drink
toast	tǔsī	土司、吐司	Food & drink
tuna	tūnnáyú	吞拿鱼	Food & drink
turquoise	tǔ'ěrqíshí	土耳其石	Color
USB flash drive	u pán (yóupán)	U盘	Science & technology
valve	fá	阀	Science & technology
Vaseline	fánshìlín	凡士林	Health & medicine
vitamin	wéitāmìng	维他命	Health & medicine
vodka	fútéjiā	伏特加	Food & drink
waltz	huá'ěrzī	华尔兹	Arts & entertainment
watt	wǎtè	瓦特	Science & technology
whisky	wēishìjì	威士忌	Food & drink
X-ray	x guāng (àikésīguāng)	X光	Health & medicine
yoga	yújiā	瑜伽	Arts & entertainment
yogurt	yōugé	优格	Food & drink
yo-yo	yōuyōuqiú	悠悠球	Arts & entertainment
yuppie	yǎpíshì	雅皮士	Culture & society

Malay

These words are only used in Singapore and Malaysia.

Malay	Pinyin	Chinese	Meaning	Notes
tolong	duōlóng	多隆	help
kampung	gānbǎng	甘榜	village
sagu	xīgǔmǐ	西谷米	sago (starch)	sagu+米 (mǐ, 'grain')
tumpang	lóngbāng	隆帮	to stay with somebody
tanjung	dānróng	丹戎	cape

See also

• List of English words of Chinese origin
• List of English words of Japanese origin
• List of Spanish words of Chinese origin
• List of English words of Cantonese origin
• Chinglish
• Gairaigo
• Sino-Japanese vocabulary

Further reading

• Daniel Kane (15 September 2006). The Chinese Language: Its History and Current Usage. Tuttle Publishing. pp. 162–166. ISBN 978-0-8048-3853-5. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
• Robert S. Bauer; Paul K. Benedict (1997). Modern Cantonese Phonology. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 347–405. ISBN 978-3-11-014893-0. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
• Wendy Yeun-wen Pao (1983). A Study of English Loanwords in Chinese Through Chinese Newswriting. South Dakota State University. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
• Janet Zhiqun Xing (30 March 2006). Teaching And Learning Chinese As a Foreign Language: A Pedagogical Grammar. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 120–124. ISBN 978-962-209-763-6. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
• 胡兆云 (2001). Language contact and lexical borrowing of English and Chinese: A comprehensive study. Shandong University Press. ISBN 978-7-5607-2382-2. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
• Kate Parry; Xiaojun Su (3 April 1998). Culture, literacy, and learning English: voices from the Chinese classroom. Boynton/Cook Publishers. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-86709-448-0. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
• Martin Haspelmath; Uri Tadmor (22 December 2009). Loanwords in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook. De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 576–580. ISBN 9783110218442. Retrieved 28 May 2020.