Meanings
plural qilins · alternative kilin · alternative kylin
- A mythical Chinese hooved chimerical creature, said to appear in conjunction with the arrival of a sage.
Roundel depicting dragon attacked by qilins; mounted on an album page.
2001, David J. Roxburgh, Prefacing the image: the writing of art history in sixteenth-century Iran2 more examples
...a red and gold textile with phoenixes in one row swooping towards qilins in the next amidst a densely foliated ground...
1989, Ernst J. Grube, Eleanor G. Sims, Islamic Art: Volume 3When the qilin leaves, the emperor traces the shapes he saw into the dirt.
2010, Molly Blaisdell, Necdet Yilmaz, Truth about UnicornsSynonyms: kirin
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA mythical Chinese hooved chimerical creature, said to appear in conjunction with the arrival of a sage.
Origin
- Mandarin麒麟
- Englishqilin
From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 麒麟 (qílín). Doublet of kirin.
More words from Mandarin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Cantonese 麒麟
- 麒麟 (kei⁴ leon⁴)mythical creature
Chinese Mandarin 麒麟
- 麒麟 (qílín)mythical creature
Finnish qilin
- qilinmythical creature
French qilin
- qilinmythical creature
German Qilin
- Qilinmythical creature
Japanese 麒麟
- 麒麟 (kirin)mythical creature
Korean 기린
- 기린 (girin)mythical creature
Russian цили́нь
- цили́нь (cilínʹ)mythical creature
Thai กิเลน
- กิเลน (gì-leen)mythical creature
Vietnamese kì lân, kỳ lân
- kì lânmythical creature
- kỳ lânmythical creature
Cite this entry
qilin. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/qilin
“qilin.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/qilin. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “qilin,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/qilin.
Source: qilin on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.