Etymology

qilin

qi·lin
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Today it means: A mythical Chinese hooved chimerical creature, said to appear in conjunction with the arrival of a sage. Full definition →

Mandarin 麒麟
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The story

  1. Mandarin · borrowed from麒麟
  2. English todayqilin

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 麒麟 (qílín). Doublet of kirin.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.