Taiwan

[ tahy-wahn ]

nounWade-Giles, Pinyin.
  1. an island separated from the southeast coast of China by the Taiwan Strait: a possession of Japan 1895–1945; restored to China 1945; seat of the Republic of China since 1949. Capital: Taipei.

Origin of Taiwan

1
First recorded in 1920–25; from Chinese (Mandarin) Táiwān
  • Also called For·mo·sa [fawr-moh-suh] /fɔrˈmoʊ sə/ .

Words Nearby Taiwan

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Taiwan in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for Taiwan

Taiwan

/ (ˈtaɪˈwɑːn) /


noun
  1. an island in SE Asia between the East China Sea and the South China Sea, off the SE coast of the People's Republic of China: the principal territory of the Republic of China; claimed by the People's Republic of China since its political separation from mainland China in the late 1940s. Pop: 23 299 716 (2013 est): Former name: Formosa

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Taiwan

Taiwan

Island nation in the Pacific Ocean near the mainland of southern China; seat of the Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Taipei.

Notes for Taiwan

When the Chinese communists came to power on the mainland, the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek and some of his army took refuge on Taiwan.

Notes for Taiwan

The United States long supported the Nationalists but broke relations in 1979 to establish relations with the People's Republic of China.

Notes for Taiwan

With its first free elections in the 1990s, Taiwan has become a democracy. Its economy is among the strongest in the world.

Notes for Taiwan

China refuses to accept Taiwan's independence as a nation, viewing it instead as merely a renegade province of China. This issue continues to complicate relations between the United States and China.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.