chinaman (plural chinamen)

1. (obsolete) A dealer in porcelain (china). [from 18th c.]

   Coordinate term: chinawoman

From Chinaman, a dated, now offensive term for a Chinese person.

chinaman (plural chinamen)

1. (cricket, dated) A left-arm unorthodox bowling action (left-arm wrist-spin)
2. (cricket) A spin bowler who uses such an action
3. (cricket) A ball delivered with such an action

From cpi -.

• IPA: /ˈt͡ʃaɪnəmən/, /ˈt͡ʃaɪnəmɪn/

chinaman (plural Chinamen)

1. (dated, now, offensive) A Chinese person, or person of Chinese descent.

   Synonyms: Chinaperson

   • 1870–1871 (date written), Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter LIV, in Roughing It, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company [et al.], published 1872, →OCLC ↗, page 391 ↗:

     A disorderly Chinaman is rare, and a lazy one does not exist. So long as a Chinaman has strength to use his hands he needs no support from anybody; white men often complain of want of work, but a Chinaman offers no such complaint; he always manages to find something to do. […] Any white man can swear a Chinaman’s life away in the courts, but no Chinaman can testify against a white man.

   • 1920 August 27, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “The Wind Blows”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC ↗, page 137 ↗:

     The carts rattle by, swinging from side to side; two Chinamen lollop along under their wooden yokes with the straining vegetable baskets—their pigtails and blue blouses fly out in the wind.

   • 1941, George Ade, Stories of the Streets and of the Town: From the Chicago Record 1893 - 1900, reprinted as 2003, Stories of Chicago, page 163 ↗,

     In Clark Street, where all the nations of the earth dwell together in harmony, one has but to go downstairs to find a Chinaman. And when found he is washing.

   • 1956, Allen Ginsberg, “America”, in Howl and Other Poems (Pocket Poets Series), City Lights Books, →OCLC ↗, page 33 ↗:

     America it's them bad Russians.
     Them Russians them Russians and them Chinamen. And them Russians.

2. A sailing ship of the 18th and 19th centuries engaged in the Old China Trade
3. (US, slang, obsolete, offensive) Addiction from a narcotic, especially heroin. [from 20th c.]
   • 1952 November 5, William S. Burroughs, “To Allen Ginsberg”, in Oliver Harris, editor, The Letters of William S. Burroughs, 1945–1959, New York: Penguin, published 1993, →ISBN, page 140 ↗:

     Chinaman half in and half out of the door. Codeine and goof balls, and complete discouragement.

• French: Chinois
• German: Chinese
• Spanish: chino