йинйү
yinyüDungan
йинйү (yinyü) is the Chinese term for the English language. Wiktionary also lists 英語 / 英语 (Eng-gí, Eng-gú) and 英文 (Eng-bûn).
Meaning: the English language (name)
Ways to say it
| Chinese | Romanization (Wiktionary) | IPA | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| йинйү | yinyü | Dungan | |
| 英語 / 英语 | Eng-gí, Eng-gú | Hokkien | |
| 英文 | Eng-bûn | /iɪŋ³³ bun²⁴/ (Min Nan, Hokkien, Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Taichung, Kinmen, Philippines, Sinological IPA, General Taiwanese) /iɪŋ⁴⁴⁻²² bun¹³/ (Min Nan, Hokkien, Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Taichung, Kinmen, Philippines, Sinological IPA, General Taiwanese) |
Hokkien |
The terms used to refer to the English language depend on the specific Chinese variety and the context of the conversation. In Hokkien, you can refer to the language as 英語 / 英语 or 英文. In common conversation, 英文 is the most frequent way to refer to the English language as a subject of study or a skill.
What does it mean word for word?
The term 英文 consists of 英 (English/UK) and 文 (language/script/writing).
Which one should you use?
While 英文 focuses on the written language or the subject, 英語 focuses more specifically on the spoken language and its linguistic properties.
Is it said differently in some regions?
йинйү is the term used in Dungan. In Hokkien, you may use 英語 / 英语 or 英文.
Related words
How do you pronounce it?
yinyü
Did you know?
- The Dungan term йинйү is a fascinating linguistic hybrid because it uses a Chinese word for 'English' but is written using the Cyrillic alphabet.
- The character 英 used in 英文 originally means 'flower' or 'hero' before it was adopted to transcribe the sound of 'England'.
- Because 英文 focuses on 'written script', a student might say they are 'studying English' to mean they are learning to read and write, even if they cannot speak it fluently.
Examples in context
- 學好英文不難。Learning English well is not difficult.This sentence shows how to describe the difficulty of learning the subject 英文.Tatoeba #2807842 by cienias, translation #7816287 by sharris123
- 她擅長說英文。She is good at speaking English.This sentence demonstrates using 英文 to describe a person's skill in speaking.Tatoeba #3748347 by egg0073, translation #312644 by CK
- 我的英文很差。My English is really bad.This sentence uses 英文 to describe a person's proficiency level.Tatoeba #4933767 by egg0073, translation #10747460 by ddnktr
- 我正在学习英文。I am currently learning English.
- 她的母语是英语。Her native language is English.
- 我们一起学英语吧！Let's learn English together!
- 142 more sentences on Tatoeba
Sources
- Wiktionary, “english” translations and entries 英文, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
