chino

A term used by American veterans of the Spanish-American war. It is theorized that the cloth or the trousers were made in China.^[1]

The American Heritage Dictionary says that the word is from American Spanish chino, literally "toasted", in reference to its usual color. But this is not a usual meaning of the Spanish word.^[2]

chino (countable and uncountable, plural chinos)

1. A coarse cotton fabric commonly used to make trousers and uniforms.

• camisa de chino

• Chino cloth on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Choni, chion-, ichno-

chino

1. neuter of chinu

• IPA^(key): /ˈki.no/
• Rhymes: -ino
• Hyphenation: chì‧no

From the short past participle of chinare (“to bend”) in Tuscan; compare the Standard Italian participle chinato.^[1]

chino (feminine china, masculine plural chini, feminine plural chine)

1. lowered, bent, bowed

   Synonyms: curvo, piegato

chino

1. first-person singular present indicative of chinare

• Ledgeway, Adam. 2016. Italian, Tuscan, and Corsican. In Ledgeway, Adam & Maiden, Martin (eds.), The Oxford guide to the Romance languages, 206–227. Oxford: OUP.

Inherited from Latin plēnus.

• (Naples) IPA^(key): [ˈkçiːnə], (feminine) [ˈkçeːnă]

chino (feminine singular chiena, masculine plural chine, feminine plural chiene)

1. full

• AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 1335: “pieno; piena; pieni; piene” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it
• Giacco, Giuseppe (2003) “chiéna”, in Schedario Napoletano

• Rhymes: -inu
• Hyphenation: chi‧no

From China.

chino (feminine china, masculine plural chinos, feminine plural chinas)

1. (rare outside of compounds) Chinese

   Synonym: chinês

chino m (plural chinos, feminine china, feminine plural chinas)

1. (rare outside of compounds) Chinese

   Synonym: chinês

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

chino m (plural chinos)

1. (Madeira) synonym of abatanado
2. (informal) knife

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

chino

1. first-person singular present indicative of chinar

• “chino”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “chino”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃino/ [ˈt͡ʃi.no]

• Audio (Spain):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ino
• Syllabification: chi‧no

From China +‎ -o.

Variety stores are called chinos because almost all variety stores in Spain are run by Chinese people.

chino (feminine china, masculine plural chinos, feminine plural chinas)

1. Chinese

chino m (plural chinos, feminine china, feminine plural chinas)

1. Chinese person

chino m (uncountable)

1. Chinese (language)

chino m (plural chinos)

1. (colloquial) gobbledygook (an incomprehensible language)
2. (colloquial) a Chinese-run establishment
   1. a Chinese restaurant

      Synonym: chifa

   2. (Spain) (US) variety store, dollar store, dime store, five-and-dime, (UK) pound shop (owned by a Chinese immigrant)

      Synonyms: bazar chino, (Spain, dated) todo a cien, (Argentina) todo por dos pesos, (Chile) todo a 1000, (Chile) todo a luca

3. (colloquial, Spain) heroin (taken by chasing the dragon)

Use of enchinar (“to pave”), from en- + china.

chino (feminine china, masculine plural chinos, feminine plural chinas)

1. curly
2. (colloquial, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras) fed up
3. (colloquial, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Cuba, Puerto Rico) beardless; having little or no body hair

   Synonyms: lampiño, liso

chino m (plural chinos, feminine china, feminine plural chinas)

1. someone with curly hair

From Kichwa/Quechua china (“servant girl”).

chino m (plural chinos)

1. (Colombia) kid
2. (Latin America) boy, servant

   Tengo que llevar a los chinos al colegio.

   I have to take the kids to school.

   Apúrate chino Juan que a la fila llaman ya.

   Hurry up little John, because they're calling attendance already.

Variant of china.

chino m (plural chinos)

1. (Spain, Andalusia) alternative form of china (“pebble”)
2. (in the plural) game where players try to guess the number of coins in another player's first

• “chino”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024
• “chino”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010
• “estar”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010