Chinaman
Americannoun
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Older Use: Offensive. a term used to refer to a Chinese person or a person of Chinese descent.
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(often lowercase) a person regarded as one's benefactor, sponsor, or protector.
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(lowercase) a person who imports or sells china.
idioms
noun
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archaic a native or inhabitant of China
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(often not capital) cricket a ball bowled by a left-handed bowler to a right-handed batsman that spins from off to leg
Sensitive Note
Historically, Chinaman was a neutral compound word, similar to Irishman or Englishman , but it began to take on negative connotations in the 19th century, when many Chinese immigrants went to work in the American West. The expression a Chinaman's chance originally made reference to these Chinese laborers, though the exact origin of the phrase is disputed.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of Chinaman
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Chinaman Trail in New Mexico was likely named such because Chinese laborers constructed the original trail as part of mining operations.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 30, 2021
Hua Hsu is a staff writer for the New Yorker and the author of A Floating Chinaman.
From Slate ● Oct. 18, 2018
He continued to release solo projects while recording with 2 Live Crew and formed his own imprint, Chinaman Records.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2017
This piece is adapted from “A Floating Chinaman: Fantasy and Failure across the Pacific,” recently published by Harvard University Press.
From The New Yorker ● Jul. 14, 2016
He would stride the daises and the stages with his voice strong and clear, unafraid to speak the language like a Puritan and like a Chinaman and like every boat person in between.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
Every few days a new opera is presented, in Chinese, by Chinamen and Chinawomen artists and singers, for a Chinese audience and entirely in the Chinese manner.
From Time Magazine Archive
He is the only white man to my knowledge ever to become a Chinese Mason, which is considered among Chinamen a great honor.
From Time Magazine Archive
There being then practically neither roads nor carriages, the demand for draught horses is very small, while for riding purposes Chinamen prefer either the taller and more dignified mule or the ambling pony.
From Life and sport in China Second Edition by Ready, Oliver George
As far as I could gather, the prisoners confined in that portion of the gaol might have numbered a hundred, and were for the most part Malays and Chinamen, with a sprinkling of Europeans.
From In Strange Company A Story of Chili and the Southern Seas by Boothby, Guy Newell
At half-past eleven we all went to church, and after the Litany there were sixteen Dyaks from Murdang, six Chinamen, and six little children baptized.
From Sketches of Our Life at Sarawak by McDougall, Henriette
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
