List of German words from Chinese

There are not many words that have been adopted directly from the Chinese language as sinisms in German usage. Often the German pronunciation hardly corresponds to standard Chinese because the word was either taken over from a Chinese dialect or from another language.

As is often the case with loan words, they often refer to "typically Chinese".

German	Chinese	Pinyin	Remarks
China	Short and long characters : 秦	Qin	The German country name China for the Middle Kingdom came from the Latin Sina from the name of the Qin dynasty秦Qín (pronunciation: tchin ).
Chop Suey	Abbreviation :杂碎 traditional characters :雜碎	zásuì	The name of the Chinese dish, which actually comes from the gold rush days in California , comes from Cantonese and means broken all sorts .
Chow chow	Short and long characters : 炒炒	chǎochǎo	Chow chow (pronounced: chow-chow) means well fried , and stands for the Chinese dish 鬆獅犬 / 松狮犬 sōngshīquǎn " fluffed lion dog".
Dim Sum	Abbreviation :点心 traditional characters :點心	diǎnxīn	Dím Sām is the Cantonese pronunciation of diǎnxīn.
junk	Short and long characters : 船	chuan	The Chinese word for ship is now pronounced chuán (chuan). The German name for a Chinese ship came from the Portuguese junco or the English junk from the Malay djung , which means large ship .
Feng Shui	Abbreviation :风水 traditional characters :風水	fēngshuǐ	The name for the Chinese geomantic means wind and water .
ginkgo	Abbreviation :银杏 traditional characters :銀杏	yínxìng	The word with the meaning of silver apricot (Chinese pronunciation: yínxìng ) comes into German via the Japanese ginkyo . Particularly noteworthy is the transmission error from Ginkyo to Ginkgo , which was written into the botanical nomenclature.
kaolin	Abbreviation :高岭 traditional characters :高嶺	Gāolǐng	Kaolin comes from the place name Gaoling near Jingdezhen , which is made up of high (高gāo ) and mountains ( 嶺 / 岭 lǐng ).
Ketchup	Short and long characters : 茄汁	qiézhī	Linguistic origin unclear. Possibly from Cantonese 茄 (ke4) 汁 (jap1) as a summary of the words for tomato (番茄fānqié ) and juice (汁zhī ).
Kowtowing	Abbreviation :磕头 traditional characters :磕頭	kētóu	The word, which was adopted into German around 1900, comes from the Chinese court ceremony and means to hit with the head ( 頭 / 头 tóu ) / to hit hard (磕kē ).
pen	Short and long characters : 苦力	kǔlì	Linguistic origin unclear. The Chinese word, written with the characters kǔ ( 苦 , “bitter”) and lì ( 力 , “force”), is itself a loan word.
Kumquat	Short and long characters : 柑橘	gānjú	Kumquat is the anglicized Cantonese equivalent of the northern Chinese word gānjú.
Kung fu	Short and long characters : 功夫	gōngfu	Gōngfu means great effort.
Lychee	Short and long characters : 荔枝	lìzhī
Longan	Abbreviation :龙眼 traditional characters :龍眼	lóngyǎn	The fruit Longyan literally means Dragon's Eye and is the name of a city and a district in the province of Fujian derived.
Mahjong	Abbreviation :麻将 traditional characters :麻將	májiàng	The hemp sparrow (麻雀máquè ) is one of the game pieces.
Mu Err	Abbreviation :木耳 traditional characters :木耳	mù'ěr	A mushroom that literally means wooden ear and is known in German as Judas ear among other things.
Oolong tea	Abbreviation :乌龙 traditional characters :烏龍	wūlóng	烏 / 乌 wū means the color of a crow, black. 龍 / 龙 lóng is the symbol for dragons.
Pu-erh tea	Short and long characters : 普洱茶	pǔ'ěrchá	The fermented tea is named after the Pu'er region in Yunnan Province .
Qigong	Abbreviation :气功 traditional characters :氣功	qìgōng	Literally “contribution to morality” or “performance of / through Qi”. It is understood as a practice system for movement meditation, based on the model of Qi . Often seen in the context of Taijiquan .
sampan	Short and long characters : 舢舨	shānbǎn
silk	Abbreviation : 丝 Traditional characters : 絲	sī	The Chinese word sī came to the Latin language as seres via the Greek σηρικóς (sērikós) . But this word cannot be the source of the German word silk. Perhaps the word satin , which comes from the Arabic Zaitun , the former name of the port city of Quanzhou, can be traced back to China.
typhoon	Abbreviation :台风 traditional characters :颱風	táifēng	The term typhoon (in Cantonese "taifung") is derived from 大風 / 大风 dàfēng "big wind".
Taiji	Abbreviation : 太极 Traditional characters : 太極	tàijí	Taiji means extreme opposites and means yin and yang .
Taijiquan , Tai Chi Chuan or Tai Chi for short	Abbreviation : 太极拳 Traditional characters : 太極拳	tàijíquán	Taijiquan, also known as Chinese shadow boxing, is an exercise system for movement meditation and martial arts.
Tao	Short and long characters : 道	dào	Dao means way / method and is the core term of Daodejing .
tea	Short and long characters : 茶	chá	The North Chinese pronunciation of the character 茶 is chá and was adopted by the Russians, Arabs and Japanese, among others. The pronunciation te from the Xiamen dialect of Fujian Province has been adopted from most European languages.
tofu	Short and long characters : 豆腐	dòufu	Dòufu means something like bean curd.
Wok	Abbreviation : 镬 Traditional characters : 鑊	huò	From the Cantonese 鑊 / 镬 where 鑊 / 镬 is a special Cantonese word, which is probably related to Mandarin 鍋 / 锅 guō .
Yang	Abbreviation : 阳 Traditional characters : 陽	yáng	The male principle originally referred to the southern slope of a mountain. (Compare place names such as Luoyang = north of the Luo River ).
Yin	Abbreviation :阴 traditional characters :陰	yīn	The female principle originally referred to the northern slope of a mountain.

List of German words from Chinese

See also