Meaning & use
mandarin
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A small, sweet citrus fruit with loose orange skin that is easy to peel and divides into segments.
Grammar: Takes a/the or plural: a mandarin, two mandarins.
Patterns
- peel a mandarin
- a segment of mandarin
She packed a mandarin in her lunch for dessert.
The mandarin was so sweet that the kids asked for another.
He peeled a mandarin and shared the segments.
proper nounproper
The standard form of Chinese, based on northern dialects and spoken by more people than any other language in the world.
Grammar: Written with a capital letter and no article when naming the language: she speaks Mandarin.
Patterns
- speak Mandarin
- study Mandarin
- in Mandarin
Our teacher grew up speaking Mandarin at home.
Many students study Mandarin to work in international business.
The film is in Mandarin with English subtitles.
nouncountablefigurative
A high-ranking official in imperial China, or, in a figurative sense, a powerful person in a large organization.
Grammar: Usually historical or figurative: the mandarins of the civil service.
Patterns
- the mandarins of something
The emperor relied on the mandarins to run the provinces.
Senior mandarins in the ministry shaped the policy.
The novel describes a scholar who became a mandarin.
Word forms
| plural | mandarins |
|---|
Common combinations
- peel a mandarin
- He peeled a mandarin on the bus.
- speak fluent Mandarin
- She can speak fluent Mandarin after living in Beijing.
- learn Mandarin
- They decided to learn Mandarin before the trip.
- mandarin orange
- The salad had slices of mandarin orange.
- Mandarin Chinese
- Mandarin Chinese has four main tones.
Synonyms and how they differ
- tangerine
- Tangerine is a closely related citrus fruit, often slightly tarter and with a deeper color, while a mandarin is usually sweeter and paler.
- clementine
- A clementine is a small seedless type of mandarin, so it is a more specific word.
- satsuma
- Satsuma is a seedless, easy-peel mandarin common in Britain, and the word is narrower.
- bureaucrat
- Bureaucrat suits the official sense but is usually negative, while mandarin sounds more powerful and slightly old-fashioned.
Word family
- mandarin orange noun
- the fruit, with orange added for clarity
- Mandarin Chinese proper noun
- the full name of the language
- mandarin collar noun
- a short upright collar on a garment
- mandarin duck noun
- a colorful duck from East Asia
Commonly confused: mandarin or Cantonese? mandarin or tangerine?
mandarin vs Cantonese
Cantonese is a different variety of Chinese from Mandarin, spoken mainly in southern China and Hong Kong.
mandarin vs tangerine
Tangerines and mandarins are close relatives, but a tangerine is usually darker and tarter.
Practice
Which sentence uses the capitalized form correctly for the language?
Choose one answer.
Mandarin is capitalized only when naming the language. The fruit and the historical official use lowercase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “mandarin”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.