Qiang
/tɕʰjɑŋ/noun
A member of an Indigenous ethnic group of Sichuan, China, or the Qiangic language spoken by them.
Did you know?The Qiang are mentioned in early Chinese historical texts, but scholars caution that interpreting 羌 as “shepherd” or “sheep people” is a later folk analysis, not a proven etymology.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient China
Old Chinese
羌
“An ethnonym used in early Chinese sources for peoples living west of the Chinese heartland; its original self-designation is uncertain.”
2nd Century BCE
Chinese
羌
“Recorded in Han-era historical writings as a designation for several western and southwestern peoples.”
Medieval China
Middle Chinese
羌
“Continued as a historical and administrative ethnonym, pronounced approximately *khiang in reconstructed Middle Chinese.”
20th Century
English
Qiang
“Adopted in English scholarly and anthropological writing as the modern romanization of the ethnic name.”
Modern English
English
Qiang
“The conventional English name for the Qiang people and their language in Sichuan.”