mandarin

Meaning

Noun

1. (historical) A high government bureaucrat of the Chinese Empire.
2. A pedantic or elitist bureaucrat.
3. (derogatory, sometimes) A pedantic senior person of influence in academia or literary circles.
4. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis) Ellipsis of mandarin duck.
5. (British, informal) A senior civil servant.
6. A figurine of a Chinese person with movable head that was popular in the 1950s. (Cf. bobblehead.)

Adj

Pertaining to or reminiscent of mandarins; deliberately superior or complex; esoteric, highbrow, obscurantist.

Synonyms

mandarin orange

tangerine

🍊

mandarine

bureaucrat

Citrus reticulata

mandarin orange tree

official

orange

🍊

public servant

tree

🌳

Mandarin orange

paper-pusher

government agent

Mandarin

🍊

tangerine tree

civil servant

civil service

functionary

liqueur

officeholder

Translations

mandarino

🍊

mandarin

🍊

mandarine

mandarijn

🍊

Mandarine

mandarina

mandarín

🍊

mandarim

🍊

tangerina

Mandarin

🍊

μανδαρίνος

μανταρίνι

mandarijntje

mandarinier

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈmæn.də.ɹɪn/

Etymology

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *men-
Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr
Proto-Indo-European *-trom
Proto-Indo-Iranian *mántras
Sanskrit मन्त्र॑ (mántra)
Sanskrit -इन् (-in)
Sanskrit म॒न्त्रिन् (mantrín)bor.
Malay menteribor.
Portuguese mandarimbor.
English mandarin
From Portuguese mandarim, mandarij, from Malay menteri, manteri, and its source, Sanskrit मन्त्रिन् (mantrin, “minister, councillor”), from मन्त्र (mantra, “counsel, maxim, mantra”) + -इन् (-in, an agent suffix). In Chinese folk etymology, the word originates from Mandarin 滿大人 /满大人 (Mǎndàrén, literally “Manchu important man”).