Etymology

Khitan

K5H4I1T1A1N1

Today it means: A member of the Mongolic people who ruled Manchuria, then northern China as the Liao, then Central Asia as the Qara Khitais, from the 9th to 13th century C.E. Full definition →

Khitan 𘱿𘲫
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The story

  1. Khitan · derived from𘱿𘲫
  2. English todayKhitan

Reconstruction of Khitan 𘱿𘲫 (*qid ún, small script) or 𘱿𘱤 (*qid i, small script) under influence from Middle Chinese 契丹 (MC khejH|khj+t|khet tan). Doublet of Cathay. Compare Russian Кита́й (Kitáj, “China”) and the various forms of Cathay (“legendary northern medieval China”) in European languages.

Words from the same roots

Khitan𘱿𘲫 all →

Cathay

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.