Dictionary

Middle Kingdom en · PROPN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Calque from Chinese 中國／中国 (Zhōngguó).

Meanings

1. (literary) China.
   • After first appearing in China more than two years ago, Covid-19 has returned to the Middle Kingdom. The country had largely succeeded in keeping infection and mortality rates in check. 2022 March 22, Charles Pellegrin, Claire Hopes, Agnès Le Cossec, Laura Welfringer WELFRINGER, “China sticks to zero-Covid policy: Tens of millions endure new lockdown”, in France 24, archived from the original on 22 Mar 2022:
   • Genghis Khan initiated Beijing's nearly 800-year dominance over the Middle Kingdom. The city's current population numbers ten million people, far more than lived here in 1215 A.D. when the Mongol warlord conquered the strategically significant power center of Yanying and built Khanbalik, his new residence. 1999, “Beijing”, in The Book of the World, 2nd United States edition (Atlas), Macmillan, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 367:
   • The meeting point of the plateau and the plains is just east of the first great bend of the Yellow River. Significantly, it is at the central meeting point that we have the coalescence of the three cultures which produced the developed Shang culture. This area, known to the Chinese as Chung Yuan, or central plain, has always been the heartland of the “Middle Kingdom.” 1964, Sherman E. Lee, “Urban Civilization and the Indus Valley; Neolithic and Pre-Shang China”, in A History of Far Eastern Art, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 23, columns 1, 2:
   • President Xi Jinping emerged stronger at the end of China’s Communist Party Congress. His desire to consolidate control however may not help his plans to keep the Middle Kingdom’s economic engine humming. 2017 October 26, Jennifer Saba, “Breakingviews - Viewsroom: China's leader cements his power”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 26 Jul 2022, Breakingviews:
   • But though this Kingdom of China doth often change its Lord and Name, the Chineſes however have time out of mind called it by two other particular names, as Chungchoa, and Chungque ; the firſt whereof ſignifies The Middle Kingdom ; and the other, the Middle Garden. 1669, John Nievhoff, translated by John Ogilby, An Embassy from the Eaſt-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Grand Tartar Cham Emperour of China, London: John Macock, →OCLC, pages 4–5:

Forms

Relateds

Zhongguo

Translations (26)

fi Keskustan valtakunta (nickname for China) · hi मध्य साम्राज्य (nickname for China) · pt Reino Médio (nickname for China) · mnc ᡩ᠋ᡠ᠋ᠯᡳᠮᠪᠠᡳ ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ (nickname for China) · ru Поднебе́сная (nickname for China) · ru Сре́днее ца́рство (nickname for China) · bo ཀྲུང་གོ (nickname for China) · ug جۇڭگو (nickname for China) · cmn 中國 /中国 (nickname for China) · ja 中国 (nickname for China) · fr Empire du Milieu (nickname for China) · mn ᠳᠤᠮᠳᠠᠳᠤ ᠤᠯᠤᠰ (nickname for China) · de Reich der Mitte (nickname for China) · cmn 天下 (nickname for China) · es Reino del Medio (nickname for China) · ky Жуңго (nickname for China) · cs Říše středu (nickname for China) · pl Państwo Środka (nickname for China) · mn Дундад улс (nickname for China) · pt Reino do Meio (nickname for China) · da Riget i Midten (nickname for China) · ru Среди́нное Ца́рство (nickname for China) · sa चीनमध्यराज्यम् (nickname for China) · it Regno di Mezzo (nickname for China) · sv Mittens rike (nickname for China) · ko 중국 (nickname for China)

Middle Kingdom en · PROPN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Calque of German Mittleres Reich, eventually displacing Middle Empire, an older calque of the same term. Coined c. 1840 as part of a periodization of Ancient Egyptian history into Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms.

Meanings

1. (historical) Egypt from the time of its reunification under Mentuhotep II in the 11th Dynasty (ending the First Intermediate Period) to its disintegration during the 13th Dynasty and the beginning of the Second Intermediate Period.

Forms

Translations (17)

pl Średnie Państwo (Egypt in the late 11th, 12th, and early 13th dynasties) · da Det mellemste Rige (Egypt in the late 11th, 12th, and early 13th dynasties) · hi मध्य साम्राज्य (Egypt in the late 11th, 12th, and early 13th dynasties) · ar الدَوْلة الوُسْطَى (Egypt in the late 11th, 12th, and early 13th dynasties) · sa मध्यसाम्राज्यम् (Egypt in the late 11th, 12th, and early 13th dynasties) · ru Сре́днее ца́рство (Egypt in the late 11th, 12th, and early 13th dynasties) · de Mittleres Reich (Egypt in the late 11th, 12th, and early 13th dynasties) · hu Középbirodalom (Egypt in the late 11th, 12th, and early 13th dynasties) · ja 中王国 (Egypt in the late 11th, 12th, and early 13th dynasties) · fr Moyen Empire (Egypt in the late 11th, 12th, and early 13th dynasties) · es Imperio medio (Egypt in the late 11th, 12th, and early 13th dynasties) · pt Reino Médio (Egypt in the late 11th, 12th, and early 13th dynasties) · cmn 中王國 /中王国 (Egypt in the late 11th, 12th, and early 13th dynasties) · cs Střední říše (Egypt in the late 11th, 12th, and early 13th dynasties) · fi keskivaltakunta (Egypt in the late 11th, 12th, and early 13th dynasties) · sv Mellersta riket (Egypt in the late 11th, 12th, and early 13th dynasties) · ar المَمْلَكة الوُسْطَى (Egypt in the late 11th, 12th, and early 13th dynasties)