A World of Words: East Asia - Introductory

If you have a yen to learn more about East Asia, review this list of essential vocabulary. You'll explore the climate, land features, political structures, and religious traditions of countries like China, Japan, and North and South Korea. You don't have to be a samurai to conquer this list.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. agrarian
    relating to rural matters
  2. air pollution
    pollution of the atmosphere
  3. arable
    capable of being farmed productively
  4. archipelago
    a group of many islands in a large body of water
  5. autonomous
    not controlled by outside forces
  6. bamboo
    woody tropical grass having hollow woody stems
  7. basin
    the geographical area drained by a river and its tributaries
  8. Beijing
    capital of the People's Republic of China in the Hebei province in northeastern China; 2nd largest Chinese city
  9. Buddhism
    the teaching of Buddha that life is permeated with suffering caused by desire, that suffering ceases when desire ceases, and that enlightenment obtained through right conduct and wisdom and meditation releases one from desire and suffering and rebirth
  10. calligraphy
    beautiful handwriting
  11. capitalism
    an economic system based on private ownership of assets
  12. Chang Jiang
    the longest river of Asia
  13. China
    a communist nation that covers a vast territory in eastern Asia; the most populous country in the world
  14. climate
    the weather in some location averaged over a period of time
  15. coastline
    the outline of a coast
  16. collective farm
    a farm operated collectively
  17. colonialism
    exploitation by a stronger country of a weaker one
  18. colony
    a geographical area controlled by a distant country
  19. commercial
    connected with or engaged in the exchange of goods
  20. communism
    a form of socialism that abolishes private ownership
  21. Confucianism
    the teachings of Confucius emphasizing love for humanity
  22. Dalai Lama
    chief lama and once ruler of Tibet
  23. dam
    a barrier constructed to contain the flow of water
  24. deforestation
    the state of being clear of trees
  25. dynasty
    a sequence of powerful leaders in the same family
  26. earthquake
    vibration from underground movement along a fault plane
  27. East China Sea
    part of the Pacific Ocean near eastern Asia
  28. economy
    the system of production and distribution and consumption
  29. elephant
    a very large, plant-eating, gray animal with a trunk and floppy ears
  30. erosion
    condition in which the earth's surface is worn away
  31. export
    sell or transfer abroad
  32. forestry
    the science of developing and caring for wooded areas
  33. giant panda
    large black-and-white herbivorous mammal of bamboo forests of China and Tibet; in some classifications considered a member of the bear family or of a separate family Ailuropodidae
  34. gibbon
    smallest and most perfectly anthropoid arboreal ape having long arms and no tail; of southern Asia and East Indies
  35. glacier
    a slowly moving mass of ice
  36. Gobi Desert
    a desert in central China
  37. grassland
    land where grass or grasslike vegetation grows and is the dominant form of plant life
  38. Great Wall of China
    a fortification 1,500 miles long built across northern China in the 3rd century BC; it averages 6 meters in width
  39. Himalayas
    a mountain range extending 1500 miles on the border between India and Tibet; this range contains the world's highest mountain
  40. Hokkaido
    the second largest of the four main islands of Japan
  41. Hong Kong
    formerly a Crown Colony on the coast of southern China in Guangdong province; leased by China to Britain in 1842 and returned in 1997; one of the world's leading commercial centers
  42. Honshu
    the central and largest of the four main islands of Japan
  43. hot spring
    a natural spring of water at a temperature of 70 F or above
  44. Huang He
    a major river of Asia in northern China
  45. human right
    any basic freedom to which all people are entitled
  46. humidity
    wetness in the atmosphere
  47. ideograph
    a written or drawn character that represents a concept
  48. imperial
    relating to or associated with an empire
  49. import
    bring in from abroad
  50. industrial
    of or relating to commercial enterprise
  51. infrastructure
    basic facilities needed for the functioning of a country
  52. isthmus
    a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas
  53. Japan
    a constitutional monarchy occupying the Japanese Archipelago
  54. kimono
    a loose robe originating in Japan
  55. Korean Peninsula
    an Asian peninsula (off Manchuria) separating the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan; the Korean name is Dae-Han-Min-Gook or Han-Gook
  56. Kyushu
    the southernmost of the four main islands of Japan
  57. lama
    a Tibetan or Mongolian priest of Lamaism
  58. landfill
    an area where waste is disposed of by burying it underground
  59. landlocked
    surrounded entirely or almost entirely by land
  60. macaque
    a monkey of rocky regions of Asia and Africa
  61. Macau
    a former Portuguese province on the south coast of China and two islands in the South China Sea; reverted to China in 1999
  62. mainland
    the main land mass of a country or continent
  63. Mandarin
    the dialect of Chinese spoken in Beijing and adopted as the official language for all of China
  64. manufacture
    put together out of artificial or natural components
  65. migrate
    move from one country or region to another and settle there
  66. migration
    the movement of persons from one locality to another
  67. mineral
    a solid inorganic substance occurring in nature
  68. mineral resources
    natural resources in the form of minerals
  69. modernization
    the act of making up-to-date in appearance or behavior
  70. monastery
    the residence of a religious community
  71. Mongolia
    a landlocked socialist republic in central Asia
  72. monsoon
    a seasonal wind in southern Asia
  73. mountainous
    containing many mountains
  74. Mount Fuji
    an extinct volcano in south central Honshu that is the highest peak in Japan; last erupted in 1707; famous for its symmetrical snow-capped peak; a sacred mountain and site for pilgrimages
  75. Mt. Everest
    a mountain in the central Himalayas on the border of Tibet and Nepal; the highest mountain peak in the world (29,028 feet high)
  76. natural resource
    material in the environment that can be used by people
  77. North Korea
    a communist country in the northern half of the Korean Peninsula; established in 1948
  78. Pacific Ocean
    the largest ocean in the world
  79. pagoda
    an Asian temple
  80. pangolin
    a toothless mammal with horny scales and a long snout
  81. papermaking
    the craft of making paper
  82. peasant
    one of a class of agricultural laborers
  83. peninsula
    a large mass of land projecting into a body of water
  84. plain
    an extensive tract of level, open land
  85. plateau
    a relatively flat raised area of land
  86. pollution
    contamination of the natural environment
  87. port
    where people and merchandise can enter or leave a country
  88. precipitation
    the falling to earth of any form of water
  89. prefecture
    the district administered by a prefect
  90. printing press
    a machine used for printing
  91. province
    the territory in an administrative district of a nation
  92. rain shadow
    an area that has little precipitation because some barrier causes the winds to lose their moisture before reaching it
  93. rice paddy
    an irrigated or flooded field where rice is grown
  94. rural
    living in or characteristic of farming or country life
  95. samurai
    Japanese warrior who was a member of the feudal aristocracy
  96. sashimi
    very thinly sliced raw fish
  97. Seoul
    the capital of South Korea and the largest city of Asia
  98. Shanghai
    the largest city of China
  99. Shikoku
    the smallest of the four main islands of Japan
  100. Shintoism
    the ancient indigenous religion of Japan lacking formal dogma; characterized by a veneration of nature spirits and of ancestors
  101. shogun
    a hereditary military dictator of Japan
  102. shrine
    a place of worship associated with something sacred
  103. Silk Road
    an ancient trade route between China and the Mediterranean
  104. South China Sea
    a tropical arm of the Pacific Ocean near southeastern Asia subject to frequent typhoons
  105. South Korea
    a republic in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula
  106. sumo
    a Japanese form of wrestling
  107. surplus
    a quantity much larger than is needed
  108. sushi
    cold rice and vinegar topped or rolled with raw fish
  109. tableland
    a relatively flat raised area of land
  110. Taiwan
    an island in southeastern Asia 100 miles off the coast of mainland China in the South China Sea
  111. temperate
    mild or free from extremes
  112. terrace
    make land into level shelves, as for cultivation
  113. terrain
    a piece of ground having specific characteristics
  114. Tibet
    an autonomous region of the Peoples Republic of China
  115. tidal wave
    an unusual (and often destructive) rise of water along the seashore caused by a storm or a combination of wind and high tide
  116. tofu
    a soft, white, cheeselike food made from soybeans
  117. Tokyo
    the capital and largest city of Japan
  118. tropical
    relating to part of the Earth's surface with hot climate
  119. tsunami
    a cataclysm resulting from a destructive sea wave
  120. typhoon
    a tropical cyclone in the western Pacific or Indian oceans
  121. urban
    relating to a city or densely populated area
  122. volcano
    a fissure in the earth's crust through which gases erupt
  123. wasabi
    green root used in Japanese cooking
  124. water pollution
    pollution of the water in rivers and lakes
  125. yak
    large, long-haired ox of Tibet
  126. yen
    the basic unit of money in Japan
  127. yuan
    the basic unit of money in China
  128. zone
    an area or region distinguished from adjacent parts
Created on Wed Jan 25 15:49:00 EST 2017 (updated Tue Apr 04 12:07:37 EDT 2017)

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