Meanings
nounwenyan (uncountable)
- uncountableClassical Chinese
The first baihua-journals until about 1901 contained mainly articles and news, which had been originally written in wenyan and were now translated into the vernacular language.
2004, Michael Lackner, Natascha Vittinghoff, Mapping Meanings: The Field of New Learning in Late Qing China, BRILL, →ISBN, page 280
Origin
From Mandarin 文言 (wényán).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
wenyan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wenyan
MLA
“wenyan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wenyan. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wenyan,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wenyan.
Source: wenyan on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.