From clippings of attributive use of China, q.

• (British, America) IPA: /ˈt͡ʃaɪnə/
• (obsolete) IPA: /ˈtʃeɪnɪ/, /ˈtʃiːnɪ/

china

1. (uncountable) Synonym of porcelain, a hard white translucent ceramic made from kaolin, now (chiefly US) sometimes distinguished in reference to tableware as fine or good china.

   It's a china doll.

2. (uncountable) Chinaware: porcelain tableware.
   • 1653, Henry Cogan translating Fernão Mendes Pinto as The Voyages and Adventures of Fernand Mendez Pinto, p. 206:

     ...a Present of certain very rich Pieces of China.

   He set the table with china, cloth napkins, and crystal stemware.
   The traditional 20th anniversary gift is china.
3. (uncountable, chiefly US, dated) Cheaper and lower-quality ceramic and ceramic tableware, distinguished from porcelain.
4. (uncountable) Synonym of China root, the root of Smilax china (particularly) as a medicine.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC ↗, partition II, section 5, member 1, subsection v:

     China, saith Manardus, makes a good colour in the face, takes away melancholy, and all infirmities proceeding from cold […].

5. (uncountable, obsolete) Synonym of cheyney: worsted or woolen stuff.
   • 1790, Alexander Wilson, Poems, page 55:

     ...And then the last boon I'll implore,
     Is to bless us with China so tight...

6. (countable) Synonym of China rose, in its various senses.
   • 1844, Jane Loudon, The Ladies' Companion to the Flower Garden, 3rd edition, page 344:

     Rosa indica (the common China); Rosa semperflorens (the monthly China).

7. (countable, Cockney rhyming slang, Australia, South Africa) Synonym of mate (rhyme of china-plate).

   All right, me old china?

   • 1925, Edward Fraser et al., Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases, page 53:

     China, or Old China: chum.

8. (uncountable, dated) Tea from China, (particularly) varieties cured by smoking or opposed to Indian cultivars.
   • 1907, Yesterday's Shopping, page 1:

     Tea... Finest China, Plain (Moning).

9. (countable, games, chiefly US, obsolete) A glazed china marble.
10. (countable, music) A kind of drum cymbal approximating a Chinese style of cymbal, but usually with Turkish influences.

• German: Porzellan
• Portuguese: louça

From Portuguese China, probably under influence from Old French Chin, from fa-cls چین, from Pahlavi 𐭰𐭩𐭭, from Sanskrit चीन of uncertain etymology.

• (British, America) enPR: chī'nə, IPA: /ˈt͡ʃaɪnə/, [ˈt͡ʃ(ʰ)aɪ̯nə]

1. A nation or civilization occupying the country around the Yellow, Yangtze, and Pearl Rivers in East Asia, taken as a whole under its various dynasties.
   • 1555, Peter Martyr, translated by Richard Eden, The Decades of the Newe Worlde..., folio 230 verso:

     The great China, whose kyng is thought... the greatest prince in the worlde.

   • 1884 December 9, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer's Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC ↗:

     If he tells them to build a palace forty miles long, out of di'monds, and fill it full of chewing gum, or whatever you want, and fetch an emperor's daughter from China for you to marry, they've got to do it—and they've got to do it before sun-up next morning, too.

   China has 5000 years of history.

2. The principal state in this country, including (historical) an empire under various dynasties and (since 1949) the People's Republic of China.
   • 2017, Donald J. Trump, speech at Make America Great Again Rally, Harrisburg, PA

     And I met with the President of China at great length in Florida, and we had long, long talks—hours and hours and hours.

   China will be 73 years old this Chinese National Day.
3. Synonym of mainland China.

   The gambling winnings were transferred from Macau to China.

4. (rare) A female given name.
5. An unincorporated community in Jefferson County, Indiana.
6. A town in Kennebec County, Maine.
7. An unincorporated community in Howell County, Missouri.
8. A hamlet in Delaware County, New York.
9. A small city in Jefferson County, Texas.
10. A municipality/and/town in Nuevo León, Mexico.

• (nation) Cathay (northern medieval China, archaic); Manji, Mangi (southern medieval China, archaic); Han (culture); Greater China (inclusive of Taiwan, non-Han autonomous regions, and the SARs but not always all Chinese claims); Chinkland (pejorative); Sinim (some religious contexts)
• (state) Middle Kingdom, Chinese Empire; Celestial Kingdom, Flowery Kingdom (archaic)
• (principal states at different periods) Xia, Shang, Zhou (kingdoms); Qin, Han, Jin, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing, Chinese Empire, Empire of China (empires); Warring States, Three Kingdoms (regions); Republic of China or Chinese Republic, People's Republic of China or Chinese People's Republic

• Sino-

see china/translations

china

1. (obsolete) A Chinese person.
2. (obsolete) Alternative form of cheyney: woollen stuff; items made or filled with cheyney.
3. Clipping of China rose: various flowers.
4. (botany, beverages) Clipping of China tea.
5. (rhyming slang) Alternative form of china: a mate, a friend.