Taiwan

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Etymology

The specific form "Taiwan" in English emerged from the letters of cmn-wadegiles Tʻai²-wan¹ romanization of Mandarin - 臺灣 and also possibly the romaji of Japanese - 臺灣(たいわん) (taiwan), which both of whom are ultimately from Literary Chinese 臺灣, which came from nan-hbl - 大員, 大圓, 臺員, 大灣, 臺灣, etc.

Pronunciation

• (America) IPA: /ˌtaɪˈwɑn/
• (British) IPA: /ˌtaɪˈwɑːn/, /ˌtaɪˈwæn/, /ˌtaɪˈwɒn/

Proper noun

1. A country in East Asia. [from 20th c.]

   Synonyms: Chinese Taipei, Republic of China, ROC, Formosa, Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu

2. An island between the Taiwan Strait and Philippine Sea in East Asia. [1600s]

   Synonyms: Formosa

3. An administrative division including Taiwan and nearby islands.

   Synonyms: Formosa

   1. (historical) A prefecture of Fujian, China (Qing Empire) (1683–1885).
   2. (historical) A province of China (Qing Empire) (1885–1895).
   3. (historical) A dependency of Japan (1895–1945).
   4. A province of Taiwan (Republic of China) (from 1945).
   5. (disputed) A claimed province of China (People's Republic of China/mainland China) (from 1949). [from mid 20th c.]
4. (historical) Synonym of Tainan, A city in Taiwan, ;.
5. (astronomy) 2169 Taiwan, a main belt asteroid. [from mid 20th c.]

Translations

• French: Taïwan
• German: Taiwan
• Italian: Taiwan
• Portuguese: Taiwan
• Russian: Тайва́нь
• Spanish: Taiwán

Translations

• French: Formose
• German: Formosa
• Portuguese: Formosa, Taiwan, Ilha Formosa
• Russian: Тайва́нь

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