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Middle Chinese

The Chinese language as used in the Tang dynasty (618-907), whose pronunciation is known from systematic descriptions in dictionaries and scholarly works from the Tang, Song, and later dynasties, and from the comparison of modern varieties of Chinese. Middle Chinese is the source of loanwords in Korean and Vietnamese and the largest group of Chinese loanwords in Japanese.

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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