nanking

N1A1N1K5I1N1G2
/nænˈkɪŋ//nɑnˈkɪŋ/

A form of Nanjing — A major subprovincial city, the provincial capital of Jiangsu, China, on the lower Yangtze; a former capital of China.

Less commonScrabble 12

Meanings

nanking1

verb
  1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of nank

Nanking2

proper noun
  1. alternativeAlternative form of Nanjing.

    Chiang-su was the main centre of the great Tʻai Pʻing rebellion, Nanking being the rebel capital from 1853 to 1864.

    1898, Harlan P. Beach, Dawn on the Hills of Tʻang, New York, →OCLC, page 154
    5 more examples

    Wherefore he firſt placed his Court at Nanking nee to the bank of that great River of Kiang, which the Chineſſes,in reſpect of the hugh Mountains of water which it diſcharges into the Ocean, call the Son of the Sea :

    1655, F. Alvarez Semedo, “Bellum Tartaricum”, in The History of That Great and Renowned Monarchy of China, E. Tyler, page 256

    In China the quantity of Ships is innumerable, as the Sand of the Sea : Thoſe which carry Corn only to Peking amounting to 9999 (*) large Ships, ſufficient to carry above thirty or forty thouſand weight : and their paſſage from Nanking to Peking, being ſeven or eight hundred (†) (Italian) Miles, mostly through Artificial Channels, takes up full ſix Months time. . . . (†)That our Author muſt here be underſtood to intend Italian Miles is beyond all question : For the extent of the whole Empire from the moſt remote part of it the Iſland of Hainan, to that part of it which borders on the Muſcovian Empire, doth not contain about 8 or 900 Leagues or Hours ; nor is the fartheſt part of Nanking, where the River falls into the Sea, above 250 French or common Dutch Miles ; which according to our Author's account make 7 or 800 (Italian) Miles, which word I have therefore ventured to inſert in a Parentheſis.

    1706, Dionysius Kao, A Short Description of the Vaſt Empire of China, London, page 163

    By 1857, Imperialist troops were drawing close lines around the rebels, who had begun to lose rather than to gain ground. An-chʻing and Nanking, the only two cities which remained to them, were blockaded, and the Manchu plan was simply to starve the enemy out.

    1912, Herbert A. Giles, “Hsien Fêng”, in China and The Manchus, Cambridge History Press, →OCLC, →OL, page 86

    Again, while divided counsels no longer exist at Canton, and both Kwangtung and Kwangsi are now under the control of Nanking, the agreement between Nanking and the Kwangsi war lords depends for its success on the spirit in which it is carried out.

    1936, H. Hessell Tiltman, The Far East Comes Nearer, Jarrolds, page 250

    As my husband's ship stopped for a day or two at Kiu-kiang, Anking, and Wu-hu, enroute to Nanking, I arrived three days before his ship anchored off the bund.

    1939, Virginia Holton, The Beeps, New York: John Day Company, page 133

Origin

  1. Mandarin南京
  2. EnglishNanking

From the Nanking court dialect Mandarin 南京, reinforced by Postal Romanization from before the modern palatalization of [k] to [t͡ɕ].

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

nanking. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nanking

MLA

“nanking.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nanking. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nanking,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nanking.

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