Abacus or Swan-P’an – calculating tray. A wooden frame in which are fixed a number of beads strung upon parallel wires. It is used by the Chinese for all kinds of arithmetical calculations. The system is one of decimals...
Amah – a nurse; from the Portuguese ama.
Ancestral Worship – a Chinese religious ceremony performed on stated occasions before tablets inscribed with the names of deceased ancestors, and consisting of prayers, prostrations, and offerings of food and paper-money to the spirits of the dead....
Arec-Nut – see Betel-Nut.
Bamboo – the bamboo is the common instrument for flogging criminals in China, and consists of a strip of split bamboo planed down smooth.... Until the reign of K’ang Hsi, all strokes were given across the back; but that Emperor removed the locus operandi lower down...
Bazaar – from the Persian bazar a market.
Betel-Nut – the leaf of the sirih or betelpepper smeared with chunam, or lime, and tobacco, and the nut of the areca palm, chewed together by the Chinese and other eastern nations.
Bocca Tigris – see Bogue, The.
Bogue, The – “Tiger’s Gate,” otherwise called Bocca Tigris. The principal embouchure of the Canton river...
Book of Rites – see Rites, Book of.
Boy – the common term... for a servant, such as a house-boy, office-boy, etc.
Bund – the common term... for a quay...
Buttons – the knobs adopted by the Manchu dynasty to indicate rank and worn at the top of the official hat....
Cash – ... the only coin cast in China, one thousand of which were originally equal to one tael or Chinese ounce of silver. Each cash has a square hole in the middle for convenience in carrying a large quantity...
Celestial Empire – a common name for China, taken probably from the phrase Heavenly Dynasty, which has been for many centuries in use amongst the Chinese themselves... [hence “Celestials”].
Chop – a mark, number, or brand.
Chop-Boats – lighters or cargo-boats. Literally, “water-melon boats,” from the resemblance of the roof to half a water-melon.
Chop-Sticks – hasteners. The bamboo or ivory sticks which take the place of knives and forks among the Chinese.
Chow or Chow-Chow – food of any kind. Pidgin term invented by Europeans probably in imitation of Chinese sounds. A chow-chow amah is a wet nurse.
Chowkidar – a watchman.
Clans (Chinese) – hamlets, villages, and sometimes even country towns, are inhabited by people of one common surname and ancestry, forming a tribe or clan.
Compradore – negotiator of purchases. From the Portuguese comprar to buy. The name given to the Chinese agent through whose means foreign merchants in China effect their purchases and sales.
Confucius – the great ethical, not religious, teacher of China. Flourished B.C. 551–479.
Coolie – the menial of the east.
Cue – the tail of hair worn by every Chinaman. Introduced into China by the present (Manchu) dynasty only about 250 years ago... It is said to have been originally adopted by the Manchus in imitation of a horse’s tail, as a graceful tribute to the animal to which they owed so much.
Cumshaw – a present of any kind.... Often used by Chinese beggars to foreigners in the same sense as “baksheesh”...
Dezembargador – chief judge.
East India Company – first established a factory at Canton in 1684.
Empress Dowager – the mother of the... Emperor T’ung Chih... said to have been sold as a slave-girl at the age of 14, in consequence of the poverty of her parents. She was... a concubine of the Emperor Hsien Feng... Is popularly known as Her Imperial Majesty Buddha.
Factories, The – so called from their being the residence of factors, or agents of the East India Company, and not because anything was manufactured there. The former residences of foreigners in the western suburbs of Canton.
Fanqui or Fan Kuei-Tzu – foreign devils, i.e. foreigners. An absurd attempt was once made to shew that the epithet “devils” was applied to foreigners more as a “term of endearment” than anything else, on the ground that the Chinese have good devils as well as bad in their unseen universe...
Fans – ... fans are used by the Chinese, men and women alike, from the highest officials down to the lowest coolie, and even by the very soldiers in the ranks.... They are made to serve the same purpose as an album among friends of a literary turn, who paint flowers upon them for each other and inscribe verses... They are also used to circulate the news of any important event among the people at large...
Fantan – the celebrated method of gambling with cash, common in China.... A pile of the coin is covered with a bowl, and the players stake on what the remainder will be when the heap has been divided by 4 – namely 1, 2, 3, nothing.
Feng-Shui or Fung-Shwuy – wind and water, or that which cannot be seen, and that which cannot be grasped. The great geomantic system of the Chinese, by the science of which it is possible to determine the desirability of sites... For a grave, a wide river in front, a high cliff behind, with enclosing hills to the right and left, would constitute a first-class geomantic position.
Flowery Land, The – a common Chinese name for China, similar to la belle France, and not necessarily implying the presence of flowers.
Geisha – a Japanese singing or dancing-girl.
Geomancy – see Feng-Shui.
Golden Lilies – a poetical name for the cramped feet of Chinese women.
Griffin – a new arrival in the East; equivalent to a “freshman” at Oxford.... Also, a racing pony that runs for the first time.
Hakkas – strangers. A race said to have migrated from the north of China... to the Kuang-tung province...
Hong – a row, or series. Chinese warehouses were so called because consisting of a succession of rooms, and the old “factories” being similarly built, the Chinese called each block a hong. Now used of all kinds of mercantile houses.
Hong Merchants – the security merchants of former days, who, for the privilege of trading with foreigners coming to Canton, became security to the mandarins for their payment of duties and their good behaviour while on shore. Monopoly broken up by Treaty of Nanking 1842.
Hoppo, The – the... Superintendent of Customs at Canton has been so called for many years.
Jade – ... a species of nephrite, the green and white kind of which... is highly valued by the Chinese. Rings, bracelets, vases, and various other ornaments are made of this stone, which is also largely imitated.
Jinricksha or Jinrikisha – the man’s strength cart. A small gig, invented about 1872 and constructed to carry one or more persons, drawn by a coolie in shafts and sometimes pushed by another from behind.
Joss – a Chinese idol; also applied to the Christian God. The word is a corruption of the Portuguese Deos, God, and has come to be used in pidgin-English in the sense of luck.
Junk – only the larger kind of Chinese sailing-vessels should be so called; but the term is now used of all sea-going boats and of the more bulky of the river craft.
Kang or K’ang – a brick bed, with a fire underneath it.
Keiling Kuei – see Klings, The.
Klings, The – the common term in the Straits Settlements for all Indians.
Kuomintang – originally the Revolutionary League formed (1905) under the leadership of Sun Yat-sen; reorganised (1911) as the National People’s Party (Kuomintang). Communist members admitted from 1923. After Sun’s death (1925) his military adviser Chiang Kai-shek became leader; in 1927 right wing elements led by Chiang took control of the party and formed a Nationalist Government.
Ladrones, The – “The Pirates.” The group of islands which includes Hongkong has been so called... due to the piratical disposition of their inhabitants.
Ling Che or Ling Ch’ih – the “ignominious slashing” or so-called “lingering death”, which should, strictly speaking, consist in a fearful mutilation of the limbs before giving the coup de grâce, but which is now generally modified into a few cuts on the body just before decapitation. Is the punishment for parricide and similar heinous crimes.
Linguists – English-speaking Chinese, of more or less capabilities, employed as interpreters for the local dialects. The intermediaries of trade between foreigners and Chinese in the old days were so called.
Ma Chiang or Mah-Jong – a Chinese table game employing pieces shaped like dominoes.
Mafoo – horse-man. The Chinese groom or “horse-boy.”
Maidan – an open space, an esplanade, parade-ground or green, in or adjoining a town.
Mandarin – any Chinese official, civil or military, who wears a button may be so called. From the Portuguese mandar to command. See also Button.
Middle Kingdom, The – a translation of the common Chinese name for China; it being generally believed that China is situated at the centre of the earth, surrounded by the Four Seas, beyond which lie a number of small islands inhabited by the red-haired barbarians who come to the Middle Kingdom to trade.
Monsoon – from the Arabic mausim “season;” the season winds.
Moormen – a common term in Canton for the miscellaneous natives of India who go there to trade.
New Year, China – ... may be any date between 22 January and 20 February, inclusive. This is the season chosen for the great annual holiday of the Chinese.... On New Year’s Day, absolutely no work is done from one end of the Empire to the other. Fire-crackers, feasting, and congratulatory visits are substituted for the ordinary routine of life.
Opium – ... it is the dried juice of the unripe capsules of the... Common Poppy... It is acknowledged beyond doubt that long before the English had intercourse with China, or had anything to do with the cultivation of opium, the drug used to be carried in quantities overland from India by way of Burma, Yunnan, etc.
Paddy – ... rice as it grows in the paddy-fields.
Pagoda – ... a circular or octagonal building, always of an odd number of storeys, originally raised over relics of Buddha, bones of Buddhist saints, etc., but now built chiefly in connection with Feng-Shui.
Palanquin – a box-litter for travelling in, with a pole projecting before and behind, which is borne on the shoulders of 4 or 6 men.
Pariah – ... pariah dogs, i.e., dogs with no owners, are not uncommon in large Chinese towns.
Parsee or Parsi – descendants of the Persians, of which Parsi is the old form, who left their native country and settled in India to avoid Mahommedan persecution.... Bombay Parsees are established in business at several of the Treaty Ports, notably Canton, Amoy... dealing chiefly in opium.
Penang Lawyer – a large heavy walking stick with a big knob sold at Penang and in the Straits generally.
Piá – half-breed.
Pidgin – business of any kind, from which word the term pidgin is said to be derived through the Chinese imitation of our word, i.e. business, bizzin, pishin, pidgin.
Pidgin-English – the lingua franca of China, used by foreigners of all nationalities who do not talk Chinese in speaking to native servants, shopkeepers, chair-coolies, sailors, etc. Also frequently spoken to each other by Chinamen of different parts of the Empire whose dialects are mutually unfamiliar...
Pigtail – see Cue.
Praya – a quay or esplanade. From the Portuguese praia, a shore or beach.
Punjaub – the name of the country between the Indus and the Sutlej [in North West India].
Punkah – a Hindi word (pankha) meaning a “fan.” Introduced into China by Europeans, and now known to the Chinese as “wind fan”, but rarely seen even in the wealthiest native establishments...
Queue – see Cue.
Rattan – the common cane is so called. From the Malay rotan.
Rickshaw – see Jinricksha.
Rites, Book of – ... contains a number of rules for the performance of ceremonies and “the guidance of individual conduct under a great variety of conditions and circumstances.”
Sampan – a Chinese boat of any kind, short of a junk, may be so called.
Samshoo – ... a general name among foreigners for Chinese fermented liquors of all kinds...
Savvy or Sabe – from the Portuguese saber to know.
“My savvy” = “I understand” or “I know”.
Sedan Chairs – the Emperor alone is entitled to employ 16 bearers for carrying his chair; a prince of the blood 8; the highest provincial authorities also 8 ... Chinese etiquette makes it necessary to get out of a chair to speak with a passing acquaintance....
Shameen – sand flat. Formerly a mere mudbank in the river close to the city of Canton, but... formed into an artificial island with an embankment of granite all round; the expense of this ($325,000) being borne by the British and French Governments in the proportion of four to one, according to which ratio the whole area was subsequently divided between the two countries.
Sikh – the distinctive name of the disciples of Nanak Shah who in the 16th century established that sect, which eventually rose to warlike predominance in the Punjaub.
Sola Topee – see Topee, Sola.
Son of Heaven – ... the title par excellence of the Emperor of China, who is supposed to hold his commission direct from on high.
Soy – this word is from the Japanese shoyu, a kind of sauce made from fermented wheat and beans. Has been wrongly derived by some from the first syllable of Soyer, the great gastronomer of that name.
Squeeze – originally, the commission which Chinese servants, fully in accordance with Chinese custom, charged their European masters on all articles purchased. Now extensively applied... to peculation of any kind.
Swan-P’an or Suan-P’an – see Abacus.
Tagalo – one of the dialects of the Philippine Islands... spoken in Manila.
Tail – see Cue.
Taipan – great manager. The head of, or partner in, a foreign house of business. The beggars and little boys all over the south of China shout “Taipan! Taipan!” to any foreigner from whom they wish to extract a gratuity...
Tiffin – the mid-day meal; luncheon....
Topee, Sola – a pith helmet, worn as a precaution against sunstroke. From the Hindi shola, a pithy reed, and topee a hat. Occasionally wrongly written solar, because supposed to have some connexion with the sun.
Typhoon or Tyfoon – a cyclone, or revolving storm of immense force...
Viceroy – or Governor-General of one or more provinces, within which he has the general control of all affairs civil and military, subject only to the approval of the Throne.
Victoria – the city of Hong Kong, on the north shore of the island.
Whampoa – yellow reach. Strictly speaking the port of Canton, from which it is about 12 miles distant. That foreign steamers proceed farther up the river than this point is a privilege accorded by the Chinese authorities in the interests of trade, and might be taken away at a moment’s notice...
Yamun or Yamen – the official and private residence of any Mandarin who holds a seal.
Zenana – the apartments of a house in which the women of the family are secluded.
HERBERT A. GILES
A Glossary of Reference on Subjects
connected with the Far East (1878)
COL. HENRY YULE and A.C. BURNELL
Hobson-Jobson (1886)