Loanwords have entered written and spoken Chinese from many sources, including ancient peoples whose descendants now speak Chinese. In addition to phonetic differences, varieties of Chinese such as Cantonese and Shanghainese often have distinct words and phrases left from their original languages which they continue to use in daily life and sometimes even in Mandarin. As a result of long-term direct relationships with northern peoples, starting from the Qin-Han period, there have been many exchanges of words. In addition, there were times when northern tribes dominated China. As a result, there are also a number of loanwords from nearby languages such as various Turkic languages, Mongolian, and Manchu (Tungusic).

Throughout China, Buddhism has also introduced words from Sanskrit and Pali. More recently, foreign invasion and trade since the First and Second Opium Wars of the mid-nineteenth century has led to prolonged contact with English, French, and Japanese. Although politically minded language reform under the Republic and People's Republic of China have generally preferred to use calques and neologisms in place of loanwords, a growing number particularly from American English have become current in modern Chinese. On the mainland, transcription into Chinese characters in official media and publications is directed by the Proper Names and Translation Service of the Xinhua News Agency and its reference work Names of the World's Peoples.Xinhua News Agency. Names of the World's Peoples: a Comprehensive Dictionary of Names in Roman-Chinese .

Since Hong Kong was under British control until 1997, Hong Kong Cantonese borrowed many words from English such as (from the word "bus", ), (from "taxi", ), (from "cheese", ), and (from "McDonald's", ), and such loanwords have been adopted into Mandarin, despite them sounding much less similar to the English words than the Cantonese versions.

Foreign businesses and products are usually free to choose their own transliterations and typically select ones with positive connotations and phonetic similarity to their products: for example,  (IKEA) is "proper home". Owing to antonomasia and genericization, these can then enter general Chinese usage: for example Coca-Cola's has led to becoming the common Chinese noun for all colas.

Since the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War, relations between the ROC and PRC had been hostile, thus communication between Taiwan and mainland China became limited. For that reason, many loanwords and proper names became quite different from each other. For example, "cheese" in mainland China is , while cheese in Taiwan is .

Sanskrit The majority of Sanskrit loanwords entered Chinese in and before the Tang dyansty. As such, Baxter's transcription for Middle Chinese is provided for all terms. Many of the following, such as and , are hybrids between a loaned element and a native element (with both above examples having the first two syllables loaned and last one native), and some terms may have irregular pronunciations to better match the original Sanskrit pronunciation. This is most famous in the conclusion mantra of the Heart Sutra:

Which is rendered in Chinese as:

Chinese Word Pinyin Baxter Meaning Original word Original pronunciation Original meaning , 'a mjie da bjut Amitābha limitless light pa la mjit ta perfection tsrhaet na instant instant xa tsiX chebulic myrobalan net ban nirvana nirvana apple apple bu dej bodhi supreme knowledge syaeH lijH tsiX relic; body syij da lim shmashana cold dom xwae epiphyllum cluster fig tree sju mjie srean Mt. Sumeru Mt. Sumeru yem ma la dzyae Yamaraja Yamaraja

Persian Chinese Word Pronunciation Meaning Original word Original pronunciation Original meaning bazaar (market) bazaar (market) almond almond grape or Bactrian wine lion lion thyme thyme shaman, mage magus, priest

English Chinese words of English origin have become more common in mainland China during its reform and opening and resultant increased contact with the West. Note that some of the words below originated in other languages but may have arrived in Chinese via English (for example "pizza/" from Italian). English acronyms are sometimes borrowed into Chinese without any transcription into Chinese characters; for example "IT" (information technology), "PPT" (PowerPoint), "GDP" (Gross domestic product), "APP" (mobile app), "KTV" (karaoke), or "DVD". A rarer occurrence is the blending of the Latin alphabet with Chinese characters, as in "" ("karaoke"), “” ("T-shirt"), "" ("internet protocol card").Zuo, X. (2005). Language planning with respect to English into China. Terminology, 11(2), 283-292. In some instances, the loanwords exists side by side with neologisms that translate the meaning of the concept into existing Chinese morphemes. For instance, while the loanword for 'penicillin' is (pánníxīlín), a neologism that 'translates' the word was later coined, , which means 'blue/green mold extract/essence'. In contemporary Chinese, neologisms using native Chinese morphemes tend to be favored over loanwords that are transliterations. In the case of penicillin, the term is used almost exclusively, while is viewed as an early 20th century relic. Similarly, 'science' is now known as 'subject/specialty study' rather than , though it should be pointed out that the characters were actually coined in the late 19th century by the Japanese as a kanji compound. English Pinyin Simplified TraditionalNotes Amen ammonia Rarely used in mainland China amoeba amoxicillin ampere amphetamine ampoule antitrust aspartame Aspirin Baccarat bacon From Shanghainese (cf. be-ken) bagel ballet bandage banjo bar Baroque bass bassoon Used primarily in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. In Taiwan, is preferred bazooka beer From Cantonese (cf. ) bikini bingo bit (unit of information) blog blues bolero bourgeois brandy brownie bullying bungee jumping bus Chiefly Hong Kong bye-bye caffeine calorie cancan cannon carat carbine card As the last element of a compound, alone is used, e.g. / "Bank card (ATM card)". carnival cartel cartoon cashmere celluloid cement Dated in Standard Mandarin. From Shanghainese (cf. sy-men-thin) cha-cha Champagne cheese Used primarily in Taiwan. From Shanghainese (cf. chi-sy)Used primarily in Taiwan.Used primarily in Hong Kong. From Cantonese (cf. ) cherry Transliterated from plural, exclusively refers to black cherries in mainland China. From Cantonese (cf. ) chiffon As in a kind of fabricAs in chiffon cake chocolate From Shanghainese (cf. chiau-kheq-liq) cider cigar From Shanghainese (cf. shiq-ga) clone coca, coke Coca-Cola cola cocaine cocoa codeine coffee From various sources. Loaned via American English in Shanghainese (cf. kha-fi), French in Cantonese and Mandarin (cf. ), Russian in Dungan (cf. ), and Malay-Indonesian or Tagalog in migrant communities in Southeast Asia. cookie cool copy Only used in the context of computers sofa From Shanghainese (cf. so-faq). Doublet of coup d'état craton cream From Cantonese (cf. )Likely of Southern Chinese origin crêpe croissant cumin Rarely used in mainland China, usually appears in compound words such as “cuminaldehyde” curry cyanide Rarely used in mainland China Dacron daddy didgeridoo disco Disney From Shanghainese (cf. diq-zy-gni) domino drive-thru Eucalyptus eureka fan Transliterated from plural, also a term for cellophane noodles () fantasy Rarely used in mainland China fascism fillet Usually refers to filet mignon geek ghetto go-kart golf guitar From Shanghainese (cf. ciq-tha)From Cantonese (cf. ) hacker hallelujah hamburger From , 'Hamburg', and , 'bun' hello , , , Latter chiefly Cantonese (cf. ) heroin hippie honey As a term of endearment hysteria humour ice cream jacket Chiefly Shanghainese (jia-kheq-se) jazz From Shanghainese (cf. ciaq-zy) Jeep jitterbug karaoke karting ketamine khaki koala lace lesbian lacquer From Shanghainese (cf. laq-kheq) Lamborghini laser latte Rare in Cantonese lemon limbo liquor logic lottery mankini marathon margarine Dated in mainland China marker massage Rarely used in mainland China metre meme mini michelin microphone From Shanghainese (cf. maq-kheq-fon)Chiefly Cantonese () model modern mohair mommy montage (film) mosaic From Shangahinese (cf. mo-se-kheq) motif Musical motifs are known as motor From Shanghainese (cf. mo-daq) motorcycle mousse mozzarella Used in Taiwan and SingaporeUsed in mainland ChinaUsed in Hong Kong muffin mug Latter chiefly Cantonese () mummy Nazi neon From Shanghainese (cf. gni-ghon) nicotine Nylon ohm Olympics opium parfait parka party , , , Latter used informally penicillin Dated in mainland China Pharaoh pickup truck pie pizza Chiefly Shanghainese (phi-saq) poker Refers to card games in general polka pudding From Cantonese (cf. ) pump punk rabbi radar romance rum rumba salad Chiefly Cantonese (cf. ) salmon salon sandwich From Cantonese (cf. ) sardine Chiefly Cantonese and Penang Hokkien sauna saxophone From Shanghainese (cf. saq-kheq-sy-fon)Chiefly Cantonese () scooter Rarely used in mainland China shampoo sherry shock sirloin , , snooker sonar soda is used when referring to soft drinks, is used when referring to baking sodaFrom Cantonese (cf. ) strawberry - Chiefly Cantonese () Soviet sundae From Shanghainese (cf. sen-de)From Cantonese (cf. ) talk show tango tank tannic acid taxi Chiefly Cantonese ()Chiefly Shanghainese (tsha-deu), from English charter tarot Teflon Used primarily in TaiwanUsed primarily in mainland China T-shirt - Chiefly Cantonese () telephone From Shanghainese (cf. teq-liq-fon). Dated in Standard Chinese ten-pin bowling toast Chiefly Cantonese (cf. ) TOEFL toffee From Shanghainese (cf. tha-fi) tuna Likely from Cantonese (cf. ) USB flash drive Used primarily in mainland China valve Vaseline From Shanghainese (cf. ve-zy-lin) vitamin Dated in mainland China vodka waltz watt whisky X-ray yogurt Chiefly Taiwan yo-yo yuppie

Malay Malay Pinyin Chinese MeaningNotes helpOnly used in Singapore and Malaysia. villageOnly used in Singapore and Malaysia. sago (starch) sagu + (, 'grain'). Only used in Singapore and Malaysia. to stay with somebodyOnly used in Singapore and Malaysia. capeOnly used in Singapore and Malaysia.manggamángguǒ芒果mango

See also List of English words of Chinese origin List of English words of Japanese origin List of Spanish words of Chinese origin List of English words of Cantonese origin Chinglish Gairaigo Sino-Japanese vocabulary

Further reading

References