Khitan
adj, name, noun
adj, name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A member of the Mongolic people who ruled Manchuria, then northern China as the Liao, then Central Asia as the Qara Khitais, from the 9th to 13th century C.E. historical
Adjective
- 1 Of or pertaining to the Khitan people, language or scripts. historical, not-comparable
Proper Noun
- 1 The Khitan Empire; the state or land of the Khitan people. historical
- 2 The extinct Para-Mongolic language spoken by the Khitan people. historical
Synonyms
All synonymsEtymology
Reconstruction of Khitan 𘱿𘲫 (*qid ún, small script) or 𘱿𘱤 (*qid i, small script) under influence from Middle Chinese 契丹 (MC khejH|khj+t|khet tan). Doublet of Cathay. Compare Russian Кита́й (Kitáj, “China”) and the various forms of Cathay (“legendary northern medieval China”) in European languages.