Well attestedNamed from the place
Chinatown
noun · first attested 1850s
The word was coined in California before it was ever used of London or Sydney.
A district of a city outside China with a concentration of Chinese residents and businesses.
People's Republic of China·People's Republic of China
35.8447°N 103.4519°E · Q148
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 1850s
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
People's Republic of China
- In English
Chinatown
English took it up in the 1850s for the Chinese quarter of San Francisco, built up by migrants drawn to the gold fields. The pattern proved productive and gave English Koreatown, Little Tokyo, Little Saigon and Greektown. No such district is called a Chinatown inside China itself.
Also pinned to People's Republic of China
7 more from the same place
camisa de chinoThe national dress of the Philippines is worn over a shirt named for Chinese laborers.People's Republic of ChinaChina syndromeAn engineers' joke about digging to China became the name of a real fear twelve days before Three Mile Island.People's Republic of ChinaChinadomBefore Chinatown settled into English, American writers tried Chinadom.People's Republic of ChinaChinese dragonIt is a rain spirit with a hare's eyes, not a fire-breathing lizard.People's Republic of ChinaNixon in ChinaThe man who built a career on anti communism was the one who could shake Mao's hand.People's Republic of Chinahave more chins than a Chinese phone bookThe joke only works for a reader who knows Chin is a common Chinese surname.People's Republic of Chinahave more chins than ChinatownMost English speakers met this phrase through a hit parody single.People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
All 21 entries 13 more words from People's Republic of China
cashmereThe wool is Kashmir, spelled the old English way.KashmirshanghaiThe verb is named for a port, not for a method invented there alone.ShanghaichinaThe teacup is named for the country that made porcelain famous in Europe.JingdezhenkaolinThe clay behind porcelain is named for a hill in Jiangxi.JingdezhennankeenThe yellow cotton is named for Nanjing.NanjingXanaduThe dream palace was a real Mongol capital.ShangdusatinThe cloth is usually traced to a Chinese port's Arabic name.QuanzhouPeking duckThe dish carries the older English spelling of Beijing.Beijing