Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Chinese ·1950s
Brainwash
from xǐnǎo (洗脑 — "wash brain")
- Meaning
- Chinese Communist term for ideological re-education.
- Source word
- xǐnǎo (洗脑 — "wash brain")
- Route into English
- A direct calque — Edward Hunter's 1950 *Miami Daily News* article introduced the English compound, reporting on Korean War POW treatment. Not a word, but a loan-translation worth listing.
- Arrived
- 1950s
From Chinese
Trade English from the South China Sea ports (especially Hokkien-speaking Xiamen and Canton) seeded the early borrowings; 20th-century diplomacy and military contact added the rest.
English borrows.
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