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Mandarin vs Tango - What's the difference?

mandarin | tango |

As nouns the difference between mandarin and tango

is that mandarin is a high government bureaucrat of the Chinese Empire while tango is a Standard ballroom dance in 4/4 time; or a social dance, the Argentine tango.

As an adjective mandarin

is pertaining to or reminiscent of mandarins; deliberately superior or complex; esoteric, highbrow, obscurantist.

As a proper noun Mandarin

is standard Mandarin, the official language of China and Taiwan, and one of four official languages in Singapore; Putonghua, Guoyu or Huayu.

As a verb tango is

to dance the tango.

mandarin

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) mandarim, mandarij, from (etyl) menteri, manteri, and its source, (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • (historical) A high government bureaucrat of the Chinese Empire.
  • A pedantic or elitist bureaucrat.
  • (often, pejorative) A pedantic senior person of influence in academia or literary circles.
  • A mandarin duck.
  • (informal, British) A senior civil servant.
    • Derived terms
    * mandarinate * mandarinism * mandarinship

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Pertaining to or reminiscent of mandarins; deliberately superior or complex; esoteric, highbrow, obscurantist.
  • *1979 , , Smiley's People , Folio Society 2010, p. 58:
  • *:A mandarin impassivity had descended over Smiley's face. The earlier emotion was quite gone.
  • * 2007 , Marina Warner, ‘Doubly Damned’, London Review of Books 29:3, p. 26:
  • *:Though alert to riddles' strong roots in vernacular narrative, Cook's tastes are mandarin , and she gives a loving account of Wallace Stevens's meditations on the life of poetic images and simile […].

    • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) mandarine, feminine of mandarin, probably formed as Etymology 1, above, from the yellow colour of the mandarins' costume.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A mandarin orange; a small, sweet citrus fruit.
  • A mandarin orange tree, Citrus reticulata .
  • An orange colour.

    • External links

    * (wikipedia "mandarin")

    Anagrams

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    tango

    English

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • A Standard ballroom dance in 4/4 time; or a social dance, the Argentine tango.
  • The letter T in the ICAO spelling alphabet.
  • (slang) enemy, used amongst special police forces, derived from the abbreviation of target using the NATO phonetic alphabet.
  • A dark orange colour shade; deep tangerine

    • Verb

  • To dance the tango.
  • (slang) To handle, to flirt with, to deal with.

    • See also

    * it takes two to tango

    Anagrams

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