Mandarin - Definition and Overview

Mandarin has a number of meanings:

• An Imperial Chinese bureaucrat, and in the UK, by analogy, any government bureaucrat. The wardrobe of a mandarin during the Qing Dynasty involved Manchu official headwear and a mandarin square. A mandarin lived in a yamen.
• The Mandarin dialects of spoken Chinese, or more specifically, its standardized dialect, Standard Mandarin.
• The fruit mandarin orange, Citrus reticulata.
• The duck, Mandarin duck, Aix galericulata.
• The fish, Mandarin fish, Siniperca chuatsi.

Most English dictionaries state that the etymology of the Mandarin comes from Portuguese mandarim, from Malay menteri, from Sanskrit mantrin counselor, from mantra counsel. Other source states that it was based on the Chinese word "Man Da Ren" (滿大人) or Manchu officer (from government).