Sinology
[sy-NAL-ə-jee]
Part of speech: noun
Origin: Unknown place of origin, mid-19th century
1.
The study of Chinese language, history, customs, and politics.
Examples of Sinology in a sentence
"After her trip to Beijing, Svetlana cultivated a fascination with sinology."
"Jeremy did some research on sinology to better understand his girlfriend’s Chinese heritage."
About Sinology
“Sin-” is a word-forming element meaning “Chinese” from the late Latin “Sinæ” (plural) “the Chinese,” from Ptolemaic Greek “Sinai,” from Arabic “Sin,” meaning “China.” “-Logy” is a word-forming element meaning “a speaking, discourse, treatise, doctrine, theory, science” from the Greek “-logia.”
Did you Know?
Even though sinology refers to the study of China, it is often linked to scholarship that comes from the West. Surprisingly, the French were some of the first to set up sinological academic disciplines within its prestigious academic institutions.
