Beijing(Settlement)Chinese, English, Korean From Chinese 北 (běi) meaning "north" and 京 (jīng) meaning "capital city". This is the name of the capital of China.
Hanguk(Region)Korean From Sino-Korean 韓 (han) meaning "Korea" and 國 (guk) meaning "country, land". This is the term used in South Korea to refer to South Korea or the entire Korean Peninsula.
Joseon(Region & Country)Korean This was the name of two kingdoms in the history of Korea. The first was conquered by the Han Empire in the 2nd century BC. The second ruled Korea from the 14th century until the 19th century. The name of these kingdoms was written using the Sino-Korean characters 朝 (jo) meaning "dynasty" and 鮮 (seon) meaning "new", though the actual origin is assumed to be Korean. This name is now used in North Korea to refer to the country of North Korea.
Kantō(Region)Japanese Means "eastern frontier", from Japanese 関 (kan) meaning "frontier" and 東 (tō) meaning "east". This is the name of a region in central Japan, including Tokyo.
Kantou(Region)Japanese Alternate transcription of Japanese Kanji 関東 (see Kantō).
Meiguo(Country)Chinese From Chinese 美 (měi), referring to America, and 国 (guó) meaning "country". This is the Chinese name for the United States of America.
Meizhou(Region)Chinese From Chinese 美 (měi), referring to America, and 洲 (zhōu) meaning "continent, island". This is the Chinese name for the continents of North and South America.
Nippon(Country)Japanese Means "origin of the sun, sunrise", from Sino-Japanese 日 (nichi) meaning "sun" and 本 (hon) meaning "root, origin". This is the Japanese name for Japan.
Shanghai(Settlement)Chinese, English, German, French Means "upon the sea" in Chinese, from 上 (shàng) meaning "above" and 海 (hǎi) meaning "sea, ocean". This is the name of the largest city in China.
Xanadu(Settlement)English Anglicized form of Chinese 上都 (Shangdu), derived from 上 (shàng) meaning "above, upper" and 都 (dū) meaning "city". This was the summer capital of the 13th-century Mongol ruler Kublai Khan, located in Inner Mongolia, China. It became known to English speakers after it appeared in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem Kubla Khan (1816), and it has been used figuratively to refer to a paradise since then.
Yamato(Country)Japanese Possibly related to Japanese 山 (yama) meaning "mountain". This was the old name for the area around the city of Nara, though it was later applied to the entire country of Japan. Chinese scribes originally wrote this name using the character 倭 meaning "short". However, this was revised to the more favourable 和 meaning "harmony" in the 8th century. The prefixed character 大 means "great".
Zhongguo(Country)Chinese Means "middle kingdom", from Chinese 中 (zhōng) meaning "middle" and 国 (guó) meaning "country, state". This is the Chinese name for China. The name originally referred to China's central regions, as opposed to the territory on the fringes.