Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Chinese ·1870s
Lose face
from diūliǎn
- Meaning
- To be humiliated; to lose social standing.
- Source word
- diūliǎn
- Route into English
- A calque (word-for-word translation) of Mandarin *diūliǎn* → English via 19th-century China-trade diplomatic correspondence. Not a borrowed word but a borrowed concept — English had no exact equivalent before.
- Arrived
- 1870s
From Chinese
Trade English from the South China Sea ports (especially Hokkien-speaking Xiamen and Canton) seeded the early borrowings; 20th-century diplomacy and military contact added the rest.
English borrows.
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