Mandarin

Pronunciation

• British IPA: /ˈmæn.dÉ™r.ɪn/
• US IPA: /ˈmæn.dÉš.ɪn/
• Hyphenation: man + da + rin

From Dutch mandorijn or Portuguese mandarim, mandarij, from Malay menteri, manteri, from Hindi मन्त्रि, from Sanskrit मन्त्रिन् (mantrin, "minister, councillor"), from मन्त्र (mantra, "counsel, maxim, mantra") + -इन् (-in, "an agent suffix").

Full definition of mandarin

Noun

1. (historical) A high government bureaucrat of the Chinese Empire.
2. A pedantic or elitist bureaucrat.
3. (often pejorative) A pedantic senior person of influence in academia or literary circles.
4. A mandarin duck.
5. (informal, British) A senior civil servant.

Derived terms

• mandarinate
• mandarinism
• mandarinship

Adjective

1. Pertaining to mandarins.
2. Deliberately superior or complex; esoteric, elaborate.
• 2007: Though alert to riddles' strong roots in vernacular narrative, Cook's tastes are mandarin, and she gives a loving account of Wallace Stevens's meditations on the life of poetic images and simile — Marina Warner, ‘Doubly Damned’, London Review of Books 29:3, p. 26

From French mandarine, feminine of mandarin, probably formed as Etymology 1, above, from the yellow colour of the mandarins' costume.

Noun

1. A mandarin orange; a small, sweet citrus fruit.
2. A mandarin orange tree, Citrus reticulata.
3. An orange colour.

Anagrams

• Mirandan