Chinese ace

noun

An inept airplane pilot.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounChinese ace (plural Chinese aces)

plural Chinese aces

  1. datedslanggovernmentAn inept airplane pilot.

    Flat-spin pilots are stupid or careless flyers, while Huns or Chinese aces are reckless fellows who have crashed […]

    1933, Robert Earle Galbraith, These Our Moderns
    1 more example

    When I reported this to Burwell by telephone, he called me a Chinese ace — in those days Chinese aces were pilots who cracked up their own airplanes […]

    1983, John Thorn, David Reuther, The Armchair Aviator, page 101
Cite this entry
APA

Chinese ace. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chinese%20ace

MLA

“Chinese ace.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chinese%20ace. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Chinese ace,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chinese%20ace.

Source: Chinese ace on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.