Dongting

Dong·ting
D2O1N1G2T1I1N1G2
/dɔŋ.tɪŋ//dɒŋ-/

proper noun

A lake in Hunan, China.

Scrabble 11

Meanings

proper noun
  1. A lake in Hunan, China.

    The creeks of Hsin-ho K’ou and Tiao-kuan K’ou communicate with the N. of Lake Tung-t’ing.

    [1912, Northern China, The Valley of the Blue River, Korea, Hachette & Company, →OCLC, page 400
    5 more examples

    The Tung-ting-hoo, in Hoonan, is said to be 220 miles in circumference. It receives the waters of several southern rivers, which, rising in Kwangse and Kweichow, find their way through this lake to the Yang-tsze-keang. From the eastern side of the Tung-ting-hoo to the city of Woo-chang-Foo, over an area of about 200 miles east and west, by 80 north and south, the course of the Yang-tsze-keang lies between a great number of lakes almost touching one another; which circumstance gives to the provinces Hoopih and Hoonan their names, north and south of the lakes.

    [1832 June, “Ta-tsing Wan-neen Yih-tung King-wei Yu-too,—"A general geographical map, with degrees of latitude and longitude, of the Empire of the Ta-tsing Dynasty—may it last for ever." By Le Ming-che Tsing-lae.”, in The Chinese Repository, volume I, number 2, Canton, →OCLC, page 39

    The Tungting hoo, in Hoonan, is said to be 220 miles in circumference. It receives the waters of several southern rivers, which, rising in Kwangse and Kweichow, find their way through this lake to the Yangtsze keäng. From the eastern side of the Tung-ting hoo to the city of Woochang foo, over an area of about 200 miles east and west, by 80 north and south, the course of the Yangtsze keäng lies between a great number of lakes almost touching one another; which circumstance gives to the provinces Hoopih and Hoonan their names, meaning north and south of the lakes.

    [1833 [1832 June], “Ta Tsing Wan-neën Yih-tung King-wei Yu-too,—"A general geographical map, with degrees of latitude and longitude, of the Empire of the Ta Tsing Dynasty—may it last for ever." By Le Mingche Tsinglae.”, in The Chinese Repository, 2nd edition, volume I, number 2, Canton, →OCLC, page 39

    The Chinese High Command announced tonight that fighting was continuing on the north shore of Tungting Lake, in Northern Hunan, and south of the Yangtze River, in Southern Hupeh, where the Japanese scored no decisive successes during the past twenty-four hours. Enemy attempts to land on the south shore of Tungting Lake again were repulsed.

    [1943 May 11 [1943 May 10], en, “CHINESE STILL FIRM ON TUNGTING SHORES; Japanese Said to Have Made No Decisive Gains in Day”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 02 Nov 2023, page 8

    The Yangtze and its chief tributary, the Han, meander in great loops past a maze of shallow lakes, the chief of which, the Tung-t'ing Hu, lies just south of the border of Hunan.

    [1968, “HUPEH”, in Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 11, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 902, column 1

    "Because of the drought, what used to be a lake is now dry land," said Liu Jinghua, a woman living by China's second-largest freshwater lake -- Dongting -- which has lost two-thirds of its water over the past few months.

    2011 June 14, Coco Liu, “China's Drought Threatens Farm Income, Drinking Water, Wildlife and Hydropower”, in The New York Times (W:Climatewire section), New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 Feb 2021

Origin

  1. Mandarin洞庭
  2. EnglishDongting

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization for the Mandarin 洞庭 (Dòngtíng).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Cantonese 洞庭
  • 洞庭lake
Chinese Mandarin 洞庭
  • 洞庭 (Dòngtíng)lake
Cite this entry
APA

Dongting. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Dongting

MLA

“Dongting.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Dongting. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Dongting,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Dongting.

Source: Dongting on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.