Jiangyou
/tɕjɑŋ˥˥ joʊ̯˧˥/noun
Jiangyou is a city in Sichuan Province, China, known historically as an important regional center.
Did you know?Jiangyou is also written 江油, combining jiāng, “river,” with yóu, “oil”; the same name is sometimes confused with jiàngyóu, the Mandarin term for soy sauce, written 酱油.
Etymological Timeline
Old Chinese, 1st millennium BCE
Old Chinese
江
“A large river; later pronounced jiāng in Mandarin”
Old Chinese, 1st millennium BCE
Old Chinese
油
“Oil or grease; the character originally referred to an oily substance”
Medieval Chinese
Middle Chinese
江油
“The two-character place name represented “river” plus “oil” in the developing Chinese written tradition”
20th Century
Sichuan Mandarin
Jiāngyóu
“The modern Mandarin pronunciation of 江油, the name of the Sichuan locality”
Modern English
English
Jiangyou
“The standard pinyin romanization used for the Chinese city”