Taiwan

Meaning

1. A partly-recognized country in East Asia consisting of a main island and 167 smaller islands. Official name: Republic of China. Capital: Taipei.
2. An island between the Taiwan Strait and Philippine Sea in East Asia.
3. (historical) A former administrative division including Taiwan and nearby islands.
4. (historical) A former administrative division including Taiwan and nearby islands.
5. (historical) A former administrative division including Taiwan and nearby islands.
6. (historical) A former administrative division including Taiwan and nearby islands.
7. (historical) A former administrative division including Taiwan and nearby islands.
8. (historical) Synonym of Tainan, a city of Taiwan, former capital of Taiwan Province.
9. 2169 Taiwan, a main belt asteroid.

Synonyms

Formosa

Republic of China

China

Nationalist China

Altay

Datong

Forbidden City

Fushun

Kashgar

Penghu

Tangshan

Tiananmen Square

Xuzhou

Yichang

Changzhou

Kashi

Zhenjiang

Daqing

Zibo

Liuzhou

Baoding

Benxi

Huainan

Nantong

Quanzhou

Xinyang

Land of the Dragon

Chinese Republic

Huizhou

𐐓𐐴𐐶𐐪𐑌

Qiqihar

Shantou

guqin

Translations

Taïwan

🇹🇼

Taiwan

🇹🇼

Taiwan

🇹🇼

Taiwán

🇹🇼

Taiwan

🇹🇼

Taiwan

🇹🇼

Tayvan

🇹🇼

Taiwan

🇹🇼

Ταϊβάν

تايوان

🇹🇼

Taiwan

Formosa

République de Chine

Taiwan

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˌtaɪˈwɑn/

Etymology

Cognate with Dutch: Tayouan

In summary

The specific form "Taiwan" in English emerged from the Wade–Giles Tʻai²-wan¹ romanization of Mandarin 臺灣／台湾 (Táiwān), and also perhaps the romaji of Japanese 臺灣(たいわん) (taiwan), both of which are ultimately from Literary Chinese 臺灣, from Hokkien 大員 (Tāi-oân), 大圓, 臺員, 大灣, 臺灣, and other forms, a placename initially referring to a sandbank peninsula that later silted up; now wholly part of the island in the area of modern-day Anping District, Tainan, and eventually became the name of the entire island. The original placename itself was originally likely the transcription of a loanword from Siraya.
Cognate with Dutch Tayouan / Taioan / Taiwan / etc., and other early variant forms of Hokkien 臺窩灣 /台窝湾 (Tâi-o-oân), etc.
The name is sometimes folk-etymologized to have originally meant "terraced bay" (臺灣 /台湾), "great bay" (大灣 /大湾), or similar parsings from interpretations of the Chinese characters alone.

Sentences

Made in Taiwan .