Meizhou
/meɪˈdʒoʊ/noun
Meizhou is a city and prefecture-level city in Guangdong Province, China.
Did you know?Meizhou is widely associated with Hakka culture, and its name uses 梅 (plum) alongside 州, an old Chinese administrative term meaning prefecture or province.
Etymological Timeline
Old Chinese, first millennium BCE
Old Chinese
梅 (*məː)
“Plum; the plum tree or its fruit”
Middle Chinese, 6th–10th centuries
Middle Chinese
梅 (muəi)
“Plum; an established Chinese lexical form”
Medieval China
Chinese
州 (tsju)
“An administrative division, commonly translated as prefecture”
971 CE
Song Chinese
梅州
“Meizhou; a prefectural name recorded in the Northern Song period”
Modern period
Mandarin Chinese
梅州 (Méizhōu)
“Meizhou, literally “Plum Prefecture””
Modern English
English
Meizhou
“The standard English romanization of the Chinese place-name 梅州”
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