Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

Taiwan

American  
[tahy-wahn] / ˈtaɪˈwɑn /

noun

Wade-Giles, Pinyin.
  1. an island separated from the southeast coast of China by the Taiwan Strait: a possession of Japan 1895–1945; restored to China 1945; seat of the Republic of China since 1949. Taipei.


Taiwan British  
/ ˈtaɪˈwɑːn /

noun

  1. Former name: Formosa. an island in SE Asia between the East China Sea and the South China Sea, off the SE coast of the People's Republic of China: the principal territory of the Republic of China; claimed by the People's Republic of China since its political separation from mainland China in the late 1940s. Pop: 23 299 716 (2013 est)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Taiwan Cultural  
  1. Island nation in the Pacific Ocean near the mainland of southern China; seat of the Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Taipei.


Discover More

With its first free elections in the 1990s, Taiwan has become a democracy. Its economy is among the strongest in the world.

The United States long supported the Nationalists but broke relations in 1979 to establish relations with the People's Republic of China.

China refuses to accept Taiwan's independence as a nation, viewing it instead as merely a renegade province of China. This issue continues to complicate relations between the United States and China.

When the Chinese communists came to power on the mainland, the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek and some of his army took refuge on Taiwan.

Etymology

Origin of Taiwan

First recorded in 1920–25; from Chinese (Mandarin) Táiwān


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:

A few years ago a retired four-star general assured this newspaper’s editorial board that the U.S. could deter China over Taiwan as it once had the Soviet Union in Europe.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Anthropic’s third-quarter revenue grew sharply, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract chip maker, posted another record profit.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC, posted a record quarter for profit as demand for artificial-intelligence infrastructure continued to surge, with Chairman and CEO C.C.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing is forecast to report booming profit but the real intrigue comes in its talks with Elon Musk over his Terafab project.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

The room was already studded with five sets of brass candlesticks from Taiwan.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Look it up. Learn it forever.

Remember new words for good with VocabTrainer. Expand your vocabulary effortlessly with personalized learning tools that adapt to your goals.

Take me to Vocabulary.com