Taiping
/taɪˈpɪŋ/noun
A Chinese term meaning “great peace,” best known in English through the nineteenth-century Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and its civil war in China.
Did you know?The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was founded by Hong Xiuquan, who claimed visionary revelations identifying him as the younger brother of Jesus and launched a theocratic state.
Etymological Timeline
Classical Chinese
Chinese
太平
““Great peace” or universal peace; 太 means “great” and 平 means “level, peaceful, or pacified.””
2nd Century BCE–2nd Century CE
Chinese
太平
“A political and cosmic ideal of peace and harmonious order, appearing in early Chinese philosophical and religious writing.”
6th–10th Century
Chinese
太平
“A term used in religious and political contexts for an age of peace, stability, and ideal governance.”
1851–1864
Chinese
太平天國
“The “Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace,” the millenarian Christian-inspired state established during the Taiping Rebellion.”
19th Century
English
Taiping
“An English rendering of the Chinese name, especially in references to the Taiping Rebellion and Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.”
Modern English
English
Taiping
“A historical proper noun or loanword referring chiefly to the rebellion, its kingdom, or the broader ideal of “great peace.””