Cathay
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Ca·thay
(kă-thā′) A medieval name for China popularized by Marco Polo in accounts of his travels. It usually applied only to the area north of the Yangtze River.
[Medieval Latin Cataya, Cathaya, ultimately (via Turkic languages) from Khitan Khitai, the Khitan people (who ruled in northern China and Central Asia in an era of increasing interaction between China, the Muslim world, and Europe).]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cathay
(kæˈθeɪ)n
(Placename) a literary or archaic name for China
[C14: from Medieval Latin Cataya, of Turkic origin]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
Ca•thay
(kæˈθeɪ)n.
Archaic. China.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
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| Noun | 1. |  Cathay - a communist nation that covers a vast territory in eastern Asia; the most populous country in the worldacupuncture, stylostixis - treatment of pain or disease by inserting the tips of needles at specific points on the skin acupressure, G-Jo, shiatsu - treatment of symptoms by applying pressure with the fingers to specific pressure points on the body Chinese Revolution - the republican revolution against the Manchu dynasty in China; 1911-1912 Chinese Wall, Great Wall, Great Wall of China - a fortification 1,500 miles long built across northern China in the 3rd century BC; it averages 6 meters in width yang - the bright positive masculine principle in Chinese dualistic cosmology; "yin and yang together produce everything that comes into existence" yin - the dark negative feminine principle in Chinese dualistic cosmology; "the interaction of yin and yang maintains the harmony of the universe" feng shui - rules in Chinese philosophy that govern spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to patterns of yin and yang and the flow of energy (qi); the favorable or unfavorable effects are taken into consideration in designing and siting buildings and graves and furniture Chinese - any of the Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in China; regarded as dialects of a single language (even though they are mutually unintelligible) because they share an ideographic writing system Sino-Tibetan, Sino-Tibetan language - the family of tonal languages spoken in eastern Asia Cultural Revolution, Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution - a radical reform in China initiated by Mao Zedong in 1965 and carried out largely by the Red Guard; intended to eliminate counterrevolutionary elements in the government it resulted in purges of the intellectuals and socioeconomic chaos dim sum - traditional Chinese cuisine; a variety of foods (including several kinds of steamed or fried dumplings) are served successively in small portions fortune cookie - thin folded wafer containing a maxim on a slip of paper brown sauce, Chinese brown sauce - a sauce based on soy sauce egg foo yong, egg fu yung - omelet containing onions and celery and chopped meat or fish egg roll, spring roll - minced vegetables and meat wrapped in a pancake and fried Red Guard - a radical political movement by Chinese youths who espoused Maoist principles falun gong - a spiritual movement that began in China in the latter half of the 20th century and is based on Buddhist and Taoist teachings and practices Manchuria - a region in northeastern China Beijing, capital of Red China, Peiping, Peking - capital of the People's Republic of China in the Hebei province in northeastern China; 2nd largest Chinese city Chongqing, Chungking - a city in south-central China on the Chang Jiang; a commercial center for western China Canton, Guangzhou, Kuangchou, Kwangchow - a city on the Zhu Jiang delta in southern China; the capital of Guangdong province and a major deep-water port Gansu, Gansu province, Kansu - a province in north-central China; formerly part of the Silk Road to Turkistan and India and Persia Hunan, Hunan province - a province in southeastern central China between the Nan Ling mountains and the Chang Jiang; noted for its timber and valuable mineral resources Yunnan, Yunnan province - a province of southern China Luda, Luta - an industrial conurbation in northeastern China on the southern end of the Liaodong Peninsula; it now includes the cities of Dalian and Lushun Dairen, Dalian, Talien - a port and shipbuilding center in northeastern China on the Liaodong Peninsula; now a part of Luda Loyang, Luoyang - a city in east central China; the capital of ancient China during several dynasties Lushun, Port Arthur - a major port city in northeastern China on the Liaodong Peninsula; now a part of Luda Hangchow, Hangzhou - a city of eastern China on Hangzhou Bay; regarded by Marco Polo as the finest city in the world Nanjing, Nanking - a city in eastern China on the Yangtze River; a former capital of China; the scene of a Japanese massacre in the 1930s Shanghai - the largest city of China; located in the east on the Pacific; one of the largest ports in the world Taiyuan - an ancient city in northeastern China noted for coal mining and steel production |
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