Chinaman

From Chinese Pidgin English. Calque of Mandarin 中國人, China +‎ -man.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtʃaɪnəmən/, /ˈtʃaɪnəmɪn/

Chinaman (plural Chinamen)

1. (dated, now offensive) A man who is Chinese, a Chinese man.
   • 1872, Mark Twain, Roughing It, 2007, page 169,

     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.

   • 1906, Hubert D. Russell (editor), Complete Story of the San Francisco Horror, 1906, 2003, page 251,

     Another favorite pastime of the Highbinder who is usually a loafer, is to levy blackmail on a wealthy Chinaman. […] If it were not that the Chinamen kill only men of their own race and let alone all other men, the citizens of San Francisco would have sacked and burned Chinatown.

   • 1941, George Ade, Stories of the Streets and of the Town: From the Chicago Record 1893 - 1900, reprinted as 2003, Stories of Chicago, page 163,

     In Clark Street, where all the nations of the earth dwell together in harmony, one has but to go downstairs to find a Chinaman. And when found he is washing.

2. (also by analogy with East Indiaman) A sailing ship of the 18th and 19th centuries engaged in the Old China Trade

• For more on the usage of this term, see Wikipedia's article on it.

• Chinawoman

• Chinaman's chance, Chinaman's chance in Hell
• John Chinaman, Johnny Chinaman
• must have killed a Chinaman

• chainman