# What do they call this corona virus in Mandarin? Cantonese? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [March 10, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-call-this-corona-virus-in-mandarin-cantonese/849216 "2020-03-10T18:11:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-call-this-corona-virus-in-mandarin-cantonese/849216/1 "2020-03-10T18:11:21Z")
See query. I’m asking about both 1: The bioscience word; and 1. What everybody calls it, if different, in regular talk or even newscasts or public announcements. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2020, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-call-this-corona-virus-in-mandarin-cantonese/849216/2 "2020-03-10T18:26:10Z")
According to [this page](https://www.sinosplice.com/life/archives/2020/02/07/chinese-nicknames-for-the-novel-coronavirus): > [@](#): > > ``` > 新冠肺炎 (xīn guān fèiyán) lit. “New corona pneumonia” > 武汉肺炎 (Wǔhàn fèiyán) lit. “Wuhan pneumonia” > > ``` I assume that’s Mandarin. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2020, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-call-this-corona-virus-in-mandarin-cantonese/849216/3 "2020-03-10T18:51:37Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > According to [this page](https://www.sinosplice.com/life/archives/2020/02/07/chinese-nicknames-for-the-novel-coronavirus): > > I assume that’s Mandarin. The second one might still be common, but is officially discouraged. The Chinese govt complained when US Secy of State Pompeo referred to it as Wuhan Corona Virus in English the other day. They say it isn’t clear where the virus originated and that name is pejorative. The Chinese wikipedia page for the general topic is titled “2019冠狀病毒病疫情”, 2019 corona (冠狀) virus (病毒) epidemic outbreak (病疫情). > **[2019冠状病毒病疫情](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E5%86%A0%E7%8B%80%E7%97%85%E6%AF%92%E7%97%85%E7%96%AB%E6%83%85)** > > 美国安慰号医疗船上重症监护病房的一名的护士在治疗患者（上） > 中國湖北省武汉市塔子湖体育中心改造的方舱医院（中左） > 澳洲布里斯班一家超市的衛生纸被抢购一空（中右） > 西班牙希洪一名老年妇女在接种疫苗（下左） > 多哥洛美的国家卫生研究所接收国际原子能机构捐赠的抗疫物资（下右） > 疫苗 > 其他變異株 > 2019冠状病毒病疫情\[註 4\]是由严重急性呼吸系统综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）导致的2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）所引發的全球大流行疫情。该疾病在2019年末於中華人民共和國湖北省武漢市首次报告，隨後在2020年初全球多國报告发现病例，逐漸變成一場全球性大瘟疫。截至2024年3月10日，全球已累计报告逾774,699,352例确诊病例，其中逾7,033,430人死亡，病死率约为2.09%，是人類歷史上大規模流行病之一。世界各国对该病病死率的估计值差异甚大，多数国家该病的观测病死率在0.5%-5.0%之间\[註 5\]。 Mandarin is basically just a particular pronunciation of those characters that would be different from the Cantonese one (or Korean pronunciation, which is what it sounds like in my head, though the Korean language uses a different term). The Cantonese dialect would not have its own different official name as in different characters, it’s possible nicknames common in one part of the country or other might be different characters. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2020, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-call-this-corona-virus-in-mandarin-cantonese/849216/4 "2020-03-10T18:56:24Z")
My Taiwanese wife says that the local TV stations in Taiwan are saying that the government in Taiwan refuses to go along with the UN/WHO mandated name, Corona 19. Apparently, China pressured (bribed?) the WHO to change the name so as to make the world media call the virus something other than the name of a large city in China. Therefore, in Taiwan (in Mandarin) it is called 武汉肺炎 (Wǔhàn fèiyán). In Cantonese, it would be written using the same characters, but the pronunciation would be different. This is true for all Chinese dialects; same characters (although many characters have been simplified in mainland China), different pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2020, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-call-this-corona-virus-in-mandarin-cantonese/849216/5 "2020-03-10T20:05:53Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > Apparently, China pressured (bribed?) the WHO to change the name so as to make the world media call the virus something other than the name of a large city in China. Nope. Once again we see how conspiracy theories spread when they chime well with preconceived notions. But back in 2015 the WHO updated the rules on disease naming, following perceived stigma attached to the Ebola river / region of West Africa. You can find the rules here in this [PDF link](https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/163636/WHO_HSE_FOS_15.1_eng.pdf). See table B. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2020, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-call-this-corona-virus-in-mandarin-cantonese/849216/6 "2020-03-10T21:15:32Z")
> [@Corry\_El](#): > > … > The Chinese wikipedia page for the general topic is titled “2019冠狀病毒病疫情”, 2019 corona (冠狀) virus (病毒) epidemic outbreak (病疫情). > [2019冠状病毒病疫情 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E5%86%A0%E7%8B%80%E7%97%85%E6%AF%92%E7%97%85%E7%96%AB%E6%83%85) > > … What’s the derivation of 冠狀 for ‘corona’, then? Is it a Chinese term for ‘crown’, a homophone of the Latin word ‘corona’, or something else? ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2020, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-call-this-corona-virus-in-mandarin-cantonese/849216/7 "2020-03-10T22:22:56Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > What’s the derivation of 冠狀 for ‘corona’, then? Is it a Chinese term for ‘crown’, a homophone of the Latin word ‘corona’, or something else? 冠 means ‘hat’ often appearing in combinations where it connotes ‘crown’, 狀 is ‘form’ or ‘shape’. Pronounced ‘guānzhuàng’ in Mandarin per Google translate. It’s a pre-existing word also equivalent to ‘coronal’ or ‘coronary’ in English, for example coronary artery=冠狀動脈, same term in Korean (although in Korean you just spell out ‘ko-ro-na’ in the Korean alphabet for the virus). ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-call-this-corona-virus-in-mandarin-cantonese/849216/8 "2020-03-11T03:34:11Z")
My Chinese friends in Texas are usually calling it “guangzhuang bindu.” ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-call-this-corona-virus-in-mandarin-cantonese/849216/9 "2020-03-11T04:21:14Z")
Guanzhuang Bingdu 冠 is pronounced guān in Mandarin