Cathay

Meaning

1. (archaic) China, specifically medieval northern China as reached by the overland Silk Road to Xi'an or Beijing, not known at the time to be related to southern China as reached by the maritime routes to Guangzhou.
2. A settlement in North Dakota.
3. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis) Ellipsis of Cathay Pacific.

Synonyms

China

Communist China

People’s Republic of China

Red China

PRC

mainland China

Translations

Catay

Cathay

Chine

🇨🇳

Catai

China

🇨🇳

Cina

Catai

China

🇨🇳

Κίνα

China

🇨🇳

Λαϊκή Δημοκρατία της Κίνας

République populaire de Chine

Xina

الصِّين

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kæˈθeɪ/

Etymology

Cognate with Mongolian: хутга

Cognate with Russian: Кита́й

In summary

From Latin Cathaya, variant of Cataya, from Old Turkic 𐰶𐰃𐱃𐰪 (Qïtań), and ultimately from Khitan 𘱿𘲫 (*qid ún); the Khitan people who conquered northern China as the Liao dynasty in the 10th century and ruled the central Asian Qara Khitai Khanate in the 12th, just prior to the overland European missions to China occasioned by the Pax Mongolica. Most likely cognate with Mongolian хутга (xutga, “knife”) from Proto-Mongolic *kïtuga.
Doublet of Khitan. Cognate with Russian Кита́й (Kitáj, “China”). See Names of China.