Sino-Tibetan

American  

[sahy-noh-ti-bet-n, sin-oh-] / ˌsaɪ noʊ tɪˈbɛt n, ˌsɪn oʊ- /

noun

1. a family of languages including especially Burmese, Tibetan, and the various local languages and dialects whose speakers share literary Chinese as their standard language.

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Sino-Tibetan British  

/ ˈsaɪnəʊ- /

noun

1. a family of languages that includes most of the languages of China, as well as Tibetan, Burmese, and possibly Thai. Their most noticeable phonological characteristic is the phonemic use of tones

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adjective

1. belonging or relating to this family of languages

Etymology

Origin of Sino-Tibetan

First recorded in 1915–20; Sino- + Tibetan

Example Sentences

Hundreds of Tibetan exiles held a protest far from the summit venue to condemn Chinese participation in the event and urge leaders to discuss Sino-Tibetan relations.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 8, 2023

Languages as distinct as Sino-Tibetan Chinese and Native American Washo use "baba."

From Salon • Jun. 18, 2022

Bought for £4, the piece was in fact an 18th Century Sino-Tibetan sculpture of the Buddhist deity Hayagriva and his consort.

From BBC • May 22, 2017

If Hale was right, then Pama-Nyungan, with more than 200 identified languages, would be one of the world's largest language families—larger than Indo-European and almost as large as Sino-Tibetan.

From Science Magazine • Sep. 21, 2016

At the one extreme, Mandarin and its relatives, which constitute the Chinese subfamily of the Sino-Tibetan language family, are distributed continuously from North to South China.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond