cinese (Italian)

Where does "cinese" come from?

The Italian adjective 'cinese' is formed by attaching the suffix '-ese' to 'Cina', the Italian name for China[1]. The place name 'Cina' entered Italian from Classical Persian 'Čin', shaped partly by Medieval Latin 'Sina'[2]. This name reaches back through Middle Persian 'Čīn' to Sanskrit 'Cīna'[2], which was likely transmitted through Gandhari 'cina'[4]. Sanskrit 'Cīna' is widely thought to originate in the name of the western Chinese state of Qin, reconstructed in Old Chinese as '*zin'[2][5].

Open questions

The ultimate derivation of Sanskrit 'Cīna' from the Old Chinese state name Qin, reconstructed as '*zin', remains uncertain, with alternative theories pointing to states such as Jin or Chu, or to the Yelang endonym Zina. [2] [3] [5]
The intermediate path of the related Latin form 'Sina' via Ancient Greek 'Sînai' is not fully resolved, with possible transmission through Arabic 'Ṣīn'. [3] [6]

Full etymology tree

cinese (Italian), 'Chinese'
- affix Cina (Italian), 'China (a cultural region and civilization in East Asia, occupying the region around the Yellow, Yangtze, and Pearl Rivers, taken as a whole under its various dynasties)'
  - derived چین (Čin) (Classical Persian)
    - inherited 𐭰𐭩𐭭 (čīn) (Middle Persian)
      - derived 𐨕𐨁𐨣 (cina) (Gandhari)
        derived चीन (cīna) (Sanskrit), 'the Cīna or China (name of a people attested in classical literature, often identified as the Chinese)'
  - influenced by Sina (Latin), 'synonym of Sinae, China (a country in East Asia)'
- suffix -ese (Italian), '-ese (both senses); -er'

Ancestors

Cina (Italian)
-ese (Italian)

Descendants and derived words

cinesino (Italian)

Sources

Updated September 2026

More words starting with C

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris