mandarin Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun shrub or small tree having flattened globose fruit with very sweet aromatic pulp and thin yellow-orange to flame-orange rind that is loose and easily removed; native to southeastern Asia
    mandarin orange tree; Citrus reticulata; mandarin orange.
  2. noun a member of an elite intellectual or cultural group
  3. noun any high government official or bureaucrat
  4. noun a high public official of imperial China
  5. noun a somewhat flat reddish-orange loose skinned citrus of China
    mandarin orange.
  6. noun the dialect of Chinese spoken in Beijing and adopted as the official language for all of China
    Mandarin Chinese; Beijing dialect; Mandarin dialect.

WordNet

Man`da*rin" noun
Etymology
Pg. mandarim, from Malay mantri minister of state, prop. a Hind. word, fr. Skr. mantrin a counselor, manira a counsel, man to think.
Definitions
  1. A Chinese public officer or nobleman; a civil or military official in China and Annam.
  2. (Bot.) A small orange, with easily separable rind. It is thought to be of Chinese origin, and is counted a distinct species (Citrus nobilis) also mandarin orange; tangerine .

Webster 1913