Chinaman
noun, slang ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A dealer in porcelain (china). obsolete
- 2 A left-arm unorthodox bowling action (left-arm wrist-spin). dated
"Several cricketers came up to them and asked Pradeep about his effortless action mimicry and his promising chinaman bowling."
- 3 A Chinese person, or person of Chinese descent. dated, offensive
"A disorderly Chinaman is rare, and a lazy one does not exist. So long as a Chinaman has strength to use his hands he needs no support from anybody; white men often complain of want of work, but a Chinaman offers no such complaint; he always manages to find something to do.[…]Any white man can swear a Chinaman’s life away in the courts, but no Chinaman can testify against a white man."
- 4 a ball bowled by a left-handed bowler to a right-handed batsman that spins from off to leg wordnet
- 5 A spin bowler who uses such an action.
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- 6 A sailing ship of the 18th and 19th centuries engaged in the Old China Trade
- 7 (ethnic slur) offensive term for a man of Chinese descent wordnet
- 8 A ball delivered with such an action.
- 9 Addiction from a narcotic, especially heroin. US, obsolete, offensive, slang
"Chinaman half in and half out of the door. Codeine and goof balls, and complete discouragement."
Example
More examples"Several cricketers came up to them and asked Pradeep about his effortless action mimicry and his promising chinaman bowling."
Etymology
From china (“porcelain”) + -man.
From Chinaman, a dated, now offensive term for a Chinese person. Compare Chinese (“unfamiliar, unexpected”). Named in reference to Ellis Achong, a West Indian player of Chinese descent.
From Chinese Pidgin English. Calque of Chinese 中國人 /中国人 (Zhōngguórén) ("China + -man"). Applied also to ships by analogy with East Indiaman.
Related phrases
More for "chinaman"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.