Taiwanese

How to spell taiwanese

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce taiwanese

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does taiwanese mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to Taiwan, its people, language, or culture.
2. nounA person from Taiwan, or the people of Taiwan collectively.

Taiwanese in a sentence

• adjective

  The restaurant serves authentic taiwanese street food.

• noun

  Many taiwanese travel abroad for higher education.

• adjective

  She studied the taiwanese economy for her dissertation.

• noun

  The festival drew taiwanese from across the region.

Where does taiwanese come from?

Language of origin: Other

This word joins the place name Taiwan to the suffix -ese, which English uses to form adjectives and nouns of nationality such as Chinese, Japanese, and Portuguese. That suffix traces back to the Latin ending -ensis, meaning 'originating from' or 'belonging to a place', which passed into English through Old French as -eis and settled as -ese. The place name Taiwan itself is thought to derive from a word used by the indigenous Siraya people of the island, later written in Chinese characters and adopted into Western languages from the seventeenth century onward. The combined form Taiwanese became common in English during the twentieth century as the island gained international attention. The spelling trap lies in the -ese ending, which sounds like 'eez' yet is written with a silent final 'e', and in remembering the single 'i' after the 'a' in Taiwan.

How the word is built

• Taiwan (the island and place name)
• -ese (suffix meaning 'belonging to' or 'native of', forming nationality words)