Meanings
- A set of line segments on various maps that have accompanied the claims of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China to various contested areas in the South China Sea.
Hollywood certainly has a cynical heart: Barbie was banned this week from opening in Vietnam for including on a map the “nine-dash line” that China uses to claim sovereignty over territory in the South China Sea.
2023 July 8, John Gapper, “Barbie is a brand that keeps changing with the times”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 9Synonyms: ten-dash line, eleven-dash line
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounA set of line segments on various maps that have accompanied the claims of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China to various contested areas in the South China Sea.
Origin
- Chinese九段線 /九段线
- Englishnine-dash line
Calque of Chinese 九段線 /九段线 (Jiǔduànxiàn).
More words from Chinese
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 九段線 /九段线
- 九段線 /九段线 (Jiǔduànxiàn)set of line segments on various maps
Vietnamese đường chín đoạn, đường lưỡi bò
- đường chín đoạnset of line segments on various maps
- đường lưỡi bòset of line segments on various maps
- đường chữ Uset of line segments on various maps
- đường chín khúcset of line segments on various maps
Cite this entry
nine-dash line. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nine-dash%20line
“nine-dash line.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nine-dash%20line. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nine-dash line,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nine-dash%20line.
Source: nine-dash line on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.