The story
Borrowed from the Hanyu Pinyin of Mandarin 工尺 (gōngchě), from 工 (gōng, “mi”) + 尺 (chě, “re”); two note names used in gongche notation. Compare English sol-fa.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Today it means: A system of musical notation using Chinese characters, used in traditional Chinese music. Full definition →