khitan
khitan Lexical Profile
• noun
A member of a nomadic, Para-Mongolic people from ancient Northeast Asia who established the Liao dynasty in northern China during the 10th century.
"The Khitans dominated a vast empire in Manchuria and northern China before being overthrown by the Jurchens."
The extinct Para-Mongolic language spoken by the Khitan people, which was written using two distinct scripts known as the large and small scripts.
"Linguists have been working for decades to fully decipher the surviving inscriptions written in Khitan."
Word Nuance & Usage
As an ethnonym and proper adjective, 'Khitan' must be capitalized in standard English writing.
• Rhymes for khitan
Word Origin & Etymology
Derived from the native ethnonym of a nomadic Para-Mongolic people who lived in Northeast Asia. The name was transmitted westward through Central Asian languages, eventually becoming the root of the word 'Cathay', a historical European name for China.