Wenyan
/ˈwɛn.jɑːn/noun
The classical literary language of China, based largely on premodern written Chinese.
Did you know?Wenyan was used for government, scholarship, history, and ritual texts across East Asia, functioning as a prestigious written medium beyond spoken Chinese.
Etymological Timeline
Old Chinese
Chinese
文
“Writing, written culture, or literary refinement”
Old Chinese
Chinese
言
“Speech, words, or language”
Medieval Chinese
Chinese
文言
“The written or literary language, contrasted with everyday speech”
Late Imperial China
Chinese
文言文
“The classical written style used in official, scholarly, and literary texts”
20th Century
English
wenyan
“An English scholarly term for Classical Chinese or literary Chinese”
Modern English
English
Wenyan
“The classical literary language of China”