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 Qin-Han period, there have been many exchanges of words. In addition, there were times when northern tribes dominated China. As a result, there are also a number of loanwords from nearby languages such as various Turkic languages, 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", pinyin: bāshì; Jyutping: baa¹ si^6-2), 的士 (from "taxi", dīshì; dik¹ si^6-2), 芝士 (from "cheese", zhīshì; zi¹ si^6-2), and 麥當勞/麦当劳 (from "McDonald's", Màidāngláo; 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; 可口可樂; kěkǒu kělè; "delicious fun" has led to 可乐; 可樂 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

The majority of Sanskrit loanwords entered Chinese in and before the Tang dyansty. As such, Baxter's transcription for Middle Chinese is provided for all terms. Many of the following, such as 尸陀林 and 舍利子, are hybrids between a loaned element and a native element (with both above examples having the first two syllables loaned and last one native), and some terms may have irregular pronunciations to better match the original Sanskrit pronunciation. This is most famous in the conclusion mantra of the Heart Sutra:

गते गते पारगते पारसंगते बोधि स्वाहा

gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā

Gone, gone, gone to the other shore, landed at the other shore, "O Wisdom Svaha!"

Which is rendered in Chinese as:

Xuanzhang translation 揭諦揭諦　波羅揭諦 波羅僧揭諦　菩提薩婆訶

Baxter QYS gjet tejH gjet tejH pa la gjet tejH pa la song gjet tejH bu dej sat ba xa

Mandarin (Pinyin) Jiēdì jiēdì bōluójiēdì Bōluósēngjiēdì pútí sàpóhē

Cantonese (Jyutping) gat3 de1 gat3 de1 bo1 lo4 gat3 de1 bo1 lo4 zang1 gat3 de1 pou4 tai4 saat3 po4 ho1

Shanghainese (Wugniu) ciq-ti ciq-ti pu-lu ciq-ti pu-lu-sen ciq-ti bu-di-saq bu-ho

Sino-Japanese (Nihonsiki) gyatei gyatei hara gyatei harasougyatei bozisowaka

Chinese Word	Pinyin	Baxter	Meaning	Original word	Original pronunciation	Original meaning
阿彌陀佛	Āmítuófó, Ēmítuófó	'a mjie da bjut	Amitābha	अमिताभ	amitābha	limitless light
波羅蜜多	bōluómìduō	pa la mjit ta	Pāramitā	पारमिता	pāramitā	perfection
剎那	chànà	tsrhaet na	instant	क्षण	kṣaṇa	instant
訶子	hēzǐ	xa tsiX	chebulic myrobalan	हरीतकी	harītakī
涅槃	nièpán	net ban	nirvana	निर्वाण	nirvāna	nirvana
蘋果	píngguǒ		apple	बिम्बा	bimbā	apple
菩提	pútí	bu dej	bodhi	बोधि	bodhi	supreme knowledge
舍利子	shèlìzǐ	syaeH lijH tsiX	śarīra relic; Śārika	शरीर	śarīra	body
尸陀林	shītuólín	syij da lim	shmashana	शीत	śīta	cold
曇花	tánhuā	dom xwae	epiphyllum	उदुम्बर	udumbara	cluster fig tree
須彌山	Xūmíshān	sju mjie srean	Mt. Sumeru	सुमेरु	sumeru	Mt. Sumeru
閻魔羅闍	yánmōluóshé	yem ma la dzyae	Yamaraja	यमराज	yamarāja	Yamaraja

Persian

Chinese Word	Pronunciation	Meaning	Original word	Original 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
巫	wū	shaman, mage	مَجوس	maguš	magi, priest

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.

English	Pinyin	Simplified	Traditional	Notes
Amen	āmen	阿们	阿們
ammonia	āmóníyà	阿摩尼亚	阿摩尼亞	Rarely used in mainland China
amoeba	āmǐbā	阿米巴
amoxicillin	āmòxīlín	阿莫西林
ampere	ānpéi	安培
amphetamine	ānfēitāmìng	安非他命
ampoule	ānbù	安瓿
antitrust	fǎntuōlāsī	反托拉斯
aspartame	āsībātián	阿斯巴甜
Aspirin	āsīpílín	阿斯匹林
Baccarat	Bǎijiālè	百家乐	百家樂
bacon	péigēn	培根		From Shanghainese (cf. be-ken)
bagel	bèiguǒ	贝果	貝果
ballet	bālěi	芭蕾
bandage	bēngdài	绷带	繃帶
banjo	bānzhuóqín	班卓琴
bar	bā	吧
Baroque	bāluòkè, bāluókè	巴洛克, 巴罗克	巴洛克, 巴羅克
bass	bèisī	贝司, 贝斯	貝司, 貝斯
bassoon	bāsōngguǎn	巴松管		Used primarily in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. In Taiwan, 長管 is preferred
bazooka	bāzǔkǎ	巴祖卡
beer	píjiǔ	啤酒		From Cantonese (cf. be1 zau2)
bikini	bǐjīní	比基尼
bingo	bīnguǒ	宾果	賓果
bit (unit of information)	bǐtè	比特
blog	bókè	博客
blues	bùlǔsī	布鲁斯	布魯斯
bolero	bōláiluó	波莱罗	波萊羅
bourgeois	bù'ěrqiáoyà	布尔乔亚	布爾喬亞
brandy	báilándì	白兰地	白蘭地
brownie	bùlǎngní	布朗尼
bullying	bàlíng	霸凌
bungee jumping	bèngjí	蹦极	蹦極
bus	bāshì	巴士		Chiefly Hong Kong
bye-bye	bàibài	拜拜
caffeine	kāfēiyīn	咖啡因
calorie	kǎlùlǐ	卡路里
cancan	kāngkāngwǔ	康康舞
cannon	jiānóngpào	加农炮	加農炮
carat	kèlā	克拉
carbine	kǎbīnqiāng	卡宾枪	卡賓槍
card	kǎpiàn	卡片		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	嘉年華
cartel	kǎtè'ěr	卡特尔	卡特爾
cartoon	kǎtōng	卡通
cashmere	kāishìmǐ	开士米	開士米
celluloid	sàilùluò	赛璐珞	賽璐珞
cement	shúiméntīng	水门汀	水門汀	Dated in Standard Mandarin. From Shanghainese (cf. sy-men-thin)
cha-cha	qiàqiàwǔ	恰恰舞
Champagne	xiāngbīn	香槟	香檳
cheese	qǐsī, qishì, zhīshì	起司, 奇士, 芝士		First two loanwords used in Taiwan, last used in mainland China. First from Shanghainese (cf. chi-sy), last from Cantonese (cf. zi1 si6-2)
cherry	chēlízi	车厘子	車厘子	Transliterated from plural, exclusively refers to black cherries in mainland China. From Cantonese (cf. ce1 lei4 zi2)
chiffon	xuěfǎng, qìfēng	雪纺, 戚风	雪紡, 戚風	The first loanword refers to chiffon as a kind of fabric, the second refers to chiffon cake
chocolate	qiǎokèlì	巧克力		From Shanghainese (cf. chiau-kheq-liq)
cider	xīdá	西打
cigar	xuějiā	雪茄		From Shanghainese (cf. shiq-ga)
clone	kèlóng	克隆
coca, coke	kějiā, gǔkē	可加、古柯
Coca-Cola	kěkǒu kělè	可口可乐	可口可樂
cola	kělè	可乐	可樂
cocaine	kěkǎyīn	可卡因
cocoa	kěkě	可可
codeine	kědàiyīn	可待因
coffee	kāfēi	咖啡		From various sources. Loaned via American English in Shanghainese (cf. kha-fi), French in Cantonese and Mandarin (cf. gaa3 fe1), Russian in Dungan (cf. кофе), and Malay-Indonesian or Tagalog in migrant communities in Southeast Asia.
cookie	qǔqí	曲奇
cool	kù	酷
copy	kǎobèi	拷贝	拷貝	Only used in the context of computers
sofa	shāfā	沙发	沙發	From Shanghainese (cf. so-faq). Doublet of 梳化
coup d'état	kǔdiédǎ	苦迭打
craton	kèlātōng	克拉通
cream	jìlián, qílín	忌廉, 淇淋		First from Cantonese (cf. gei3 lim1)
crêpe	kělìbǐng	可丽饼	可麗餅
croissant	kěsòng	可颂	可頌
cumin	kūmíng	枯茗		Rarely used in mainland China, usually appears in compound words such as kūmíngqúan 枯茗醛 “cuminaldehyde”
curry	gālí	咖喱
cyanide	shān'āi	山埃		Rarely used in mainland China
Dacron	díquèliáng	的确良	的確良
daddy	diēdì	爹地
didgeridoo	díjílǐdùguǎn	迪吉里杜管
disco	dísīkě	迪斯科
Disney	Díshìní	迪士尼		From Shanghainese (cf. diq-zy-gni)
domino	duōmǐnuò	多米诺	多米諾
drive-thru	déláisù	得来速	得來速
Eucalyptus	yóujiālì	尤加利
eureka	yóulǐkǎ	尤里卡
fan	fěnsī	粉丝	粉絲	Transliterated from plural, also a term for cellophane noodles (fensi)
fantasy	fàntèxī	范特西	范特西	Rarely used in mainland China
fascism	fǎxīsī	法西斯
fillet	fēilì	菲力		Usually refers to filet mignon
geek	jíkè	极客	極客
ghetto	gédōu	隔都
go-kart	gāokǎchē	高卡车	高卡車
golf	gāo'ěrfūqiú	高尔夫球	高爾夫球
guitar	jítā, jiétā	吉他, 結他		First from Shanghainese (cf. ciq-tha), last from Cantonese (cf. git6 taa1)
hacker	hēikè	黑客
hallelujah	hālìlùyà	哈利路亚	哈里路亞
hamburger	hànbǎobāo	汉堡包	漢堡包	From 漢堡, 'Hamburg', and 包, 'bun'
hello	hālóu, hālǎo	哈喽, 哈佬	哈嘍, 哈佬	Latter chiefly Cantonese (cf. haa1 lou5)
heroin	hǎiluòyīn	海洛因
hippie	xīpíshì	嘻皮士
honey	hāní	哈尼		As a term of endearment
hysteria	xiēsīdǐlǐ	歇斯底里
humour	yōumò	幽默
ice cream	bīngqílín	冰淇淋
jacket	jiākè, -	夹克, 茄克衫	夾克, 茄克衫	Latter chiefly Shanghainese (jia-kheq-se)
jazz	juéshì	爵士		From Shanghainese (cf. ciaq-zy)
Jeep	jípǔchē	吉普车	吉普車
jitterbug	jítèbā	吉特巴
karaoke	kǎlā ok (kǎlāōukēi)	卡拉OK
karting	kǎdīngchē	卡丁车	卡丁車
ketamine	kètāmìng	克他命
khaki	kǎqísè	卡其色
koala	kǎolā	考拉
lace	lěisī	蕾丝	蕾絲
lesbian	lěisībīan	蕾丝边	蕾絲邊
lacquer	làkè	腊克	臘克	From Shanghainese (cf. laq-kheq)
Lamborghini	Lánbójīní	兰博基尼	蘭博基尼
laser	léishè	镭射	鐳射
latte	nátiě	拿铁	拿鐵	Rare in Cantonese
lemon	níngméng	柠檬	檸檬
limbo	língbōwǔ	凌波舞
liquor	lìkǒujiǔ	利口酒
logic	luóji	逻辑	邏輯
lottery	lètòu	乐透	樂透
mankini	nánjīní	男基尼
marathon	mǎlāsōng	马拉松	馬拉松
margarine	màiqílín	麦淇淋	麥淇淋	Dated in mainland China
marker	mǎkèbǐ	马克笔	馬克筆
massage	mǎshājī	马杀鸡	馬殺雞	Rarely used in mainland China
metre	mǐ	米
meme	míyīn	迷因
mini	mǐnǐ	迷你
michelin	míqílín	米其林
microphone	màikèfēng, -	麦克风, 咪高峰	麥克風, 咪高峰	First from Shanghainese (cf. maq-kheq-fon). Last chiefly Cantonese (mai1 gou1 fung1)
model	mótèr	模特儿	模特兒
modern	módēng	摩登
mohair	mǎhǎimáo	马海毛	馬海毛
mommy	māmi	妈咪	媽咪
montage (film)	méngtàiqí	蒙太奇
mosaic	mǎsàikè	马赛克	馬賽克	From Shangahinese (cf. mo-se-kheq)
motif	mǔtǐ, mú	母体, 模	母體, 模	Musical motifs are known as 動機 dòngjī
motor	mǎdá	马达	馬達	From Shanghainese (cf. mo-daq)
motorcycle	mótuōchē	摩托车	摩托車
mousse	mùsī	慕斯
mozzarella	mòzālǐlā, mǎsūlǐlā, mòsàlìlā	莫扎瑞拉, 马苏里拉, 莫萨利拉	莫扎瑞拉, 馬蘇里拉, 莫薩利拉	First used in Taiwan and Singapore, second in mainland China, last in Hong Kong
muffin	mǎfēn	玛芬	瑪芬
mug	mǎkèbēi, -	马克杯, 唛	馬克杯, 嘜	Latter chiefly Cantonese (mak1)
mummy	mùnǎiyī	木乃伊
Nazi	Nàcuì	纳粹	納粹
neon	níhóng	霓虹		From Shanghainese (cf. gni-ghon)
nicotine	nígǔdīng	尼古丁
Nylon	nílóng	尼龙	尼龍
ohm	ōumǔ	欧姆	歐姆
Olympics	Àolínpǐkè	奥林匹克
opium	yāpiàn	鸦片	鴉片
parfait	bāfēi	芭菲
parka	pàikè dàyī	派克大衣
party	pàiduì, pātǐ	派对, 趴体	派對, 趴體	Latter used informally
penicillin	pánníxīlín	盘尼西林	盤尼西林	Dated in mainland China
Pharaoh	fǎlǎo	法老
pickup truck	píkǎ	皮卡
pie	pài	派
pizza	pīsà, bǐsà, -	披萨, 比萨, 匹萨	披薩, 比薩, 匹薩	Latter chiefly Shanghainese (phi-saq)
poker	pūkè	扑克	撲克	Refers to card games in general
polka	bō'ěrkǎ	波尔卡	波爾卡
pudding	bùdīng, bùdiān	布丁, 布甸
pump	bèng	泵
punk	péngkè	朋克
rabbi	lābǐ	拉比
radar	léidá	雷达	雷達
romance	luómànshǐ, làngmàn	罗曼史, 浪漫	羅曼史, 浪漫
rum	lǎngmǔjiu	朗姆酒
rumba	lúnbā	伦巴	倫巴
salad	shālà, sèlā, shalǜ	沙拉, 色拉, 沙律
salmon	sānwényú	三文鱼	三文魚
salon	shālóng	沙龙	沙龍
sandwich	sānmíngzhì, sānwénzhì	三明治、三文治
sardine	shādīngyú, shādiānyú	沙丁鱼, 沙甸鱼	沙丁魚, 沙甸魚	Latter chiefly Cantonese and Penang Hokkien
sauna	sāngná	桑拿
saxophone	sàkèsīfēng, -	萨克斯风, 昔士风	薩克斯風, 昔士風	First from Shanghainese (cf. saq-kheq-sy-fon), last chiefly Cantonese (sik1 si6 fung1)
scooter	sùkèdá	速克达	速克達	Rarely used in mainland China
shampoo	xiāngbō	香波
sherry	xuělìjiǔ	雪利酒
shock	xīukè	休克
sirloin	shālǎng, xīlěng	沙朗, 西冷	Food & drink
snooker	sīnuòkè	斯诺克	斯諾克
sonar	shēngnà	声呐	聲吶
soda	sūdá, shūdǎ	苏打, 梳打	蘇打, 梳打	sūdáshǔi 蘇打水 is used when referring to soft drinks, xiǎosūdá 小蘇打 is used when referring to baking soda. Latter from Cantonese (cf. so1 daa2)
strawberry	-	士多啤梨		Chiefly Cantonese (si6 do1 be1 lei5)
Soviet	Sūwéi'āi	苏维埃	蘇維埃
sundae	shèngdài, xīndì	圣代, 新地	聖代, 新地	First from Shanghainese (cf. sen-de), last from Cantonese (cf. san1 dei6-2)
talk show	tuōkǒuxiù	脱口秀	脫口秀
tango	tàngē	探戈	探戈
tank	tǎnkè	坦克
tannic acid	dānníngsuān	单宁酸	單寧酸
taxi	-, -	的士, 差头	的士, 差頭	First chiefly Cantonese (dik1 si6-2), last chiefly Shanghainese (tsha-deu), derived from English charter
tarot	tǎluó	塔罗	塔羅
Teflon	tiěfúlóng, tèfùlóng	铁氟龙, 特富龙	鐵氟龍, 特富龍	First loanword used primarily in Taiwan, second in mainland China
T-shirt	-	T恤		Chiefly Cantonese (ti1 seot1)
telephone	délǜfēng	德律风	德律風	From Shanghainese (cf. teq-liq-fon). Dated in Standard Chinese
ten-pin bowling	bǎolíngqiú	保龄球	保齡球
toast	tǔsī, duōshì	土司, 吐司, 多士		Last chiefly Cantonese (cf. do1 si6-2)
TOEFL	tuōfú	托福
toffee	tàifēitáng	太妃糖		From Shanghainese (cf. tha-fi)
tuna	tūnnáyú	吞拿鱼	吞拿魚	Likely from Cantonese (cf. tan1 naa4)
USB flash drive	u pán (yōupán)	U盘	U盤	Used primarily in mainland China
valve	fá	阀	閥
Vaseline	fánshìlín	凡士林		From Shanghainese (cf. ve-zy-lin)
vitamin	wéitāmìng	维他命	維他命	Dated in mainland China
vodka	fútéjiā	伏特加
waltz	huá'ěrzī	华尔兹	華爾茲
watt	wǎtè	瓦特
whisky	wēishìjì	威士忌
X-ray	x guāng (àikèsīguāng)	X光
yogurt	yōugé	优格	優格	Chiefly Taiwan
yo-yo	yōuyōuqiú	悠悠球
yuppie	yǎpíshì	雅皮士

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.