List of UN country names in Chinese and their meanings

Recently I made a video which was a part of my Experimental Chinese videocourse teaching Mandarin Chinese without characters and without tones to complete beginners and someone asked a question about the story behind the word 美国 (the Chinese name for USA) in the comments. A discussion followed and since I love etymology, I thought it would be a good idea to write an article about the names of all countries in Chinese. (All UN member countries to be precise)

There are 4 types of country names in Chinese:

1. Names that have a meaning in Chinese (中國，日本，冰島)
2. Phonetic transcripts with no meaning in Chinese (斯洛伐克，捷克）
3. Names that are a combination of 1. and 2. （ 安地卡及巴布達， 白俄羅斯）
4. Abbreviations 
1. Abbreviations of longer 2. type country names（印尼， 阿根廷）
2. Abbreviations of longer 3. type country names（美國，德國，法國，澳洲 etc.)

1. Names that have a meaning in Chinese

中国  China (Zhōngguó)

中 means 'center' and 国 means 'country'. The most common way of translating this name is Middle kingdom, it is however not entirely correct. The term 中国 originally referred to kingdoms (plural) on the central Chinese plain in Ancient China that were collectively related to each other through the same Ancient Chinese culture and related languages. Equally, they were labeled Central kingdoms as opposed to the barbarian states and nations around them. Only later the name shifted from Central kingdoms to Middle kingdom.

冰岛 Iceland (Bīngdǎo)

冰 means 'ice' and 岛 means 'island'. Ice island = Iceland

日本 Japan (Rìběn)

日 means 'sun' and 本 means 'root, origin'. The origin of the sun. 

黑山 Montenegro (Hēishān)

黑 means 'black' and 山 means 'mountain'. Montenegro in English means Black mountain.

獅子山 (Shīzi shān)

獅子 means 'lion' and 山 means 'mountain'. Sierra Leone in English means Lion mountain.

2. Phonetic transcripts with no meaning in Chinese

Characters for these names of these countries are chosen so that they are phonetically close to the pronunciation of the country name in English or occasionally other languages. They are however not related to the name of the country through meaning. Additionally, Chinese has only about 300 - 400 syllables and the pronunciation does not always match perfectly. Respectful or neutral characters are chosen.

荷兰 Holland (Hélán)

荷 lotus

兰 orchid

尼加拉瓜 Nicaragua (Níjiālāguā)

尼 buddhist nun

加 to add

拉 to pull

瓜 melon fruit

不丹 Bhutan (Bùdān)

不 bù no, not

丹 dān red

3. Names that are a mix of 1. and 2.

卢森堡 Luxembourg (Lúsēnbǎo)

卢 lú 'rice bowl

森 sēn 'forest'

Lúsēn = Luxen-

堡 castle, fortress = bourg

马绍尔群岛 Marshall Islands (Mǎshào'ěr qúndǎo)

马 mǎ 'horse'

绍 shào 'to continue'

尔 ěr 'you'

Mǎshào'ěr = Marshall

群岛 archipelago

新西兰 New Zealand (Xīn Xīlán)

新 xīn 'new'

西 xī 'west'

兰 lán 'orchid'

Xīlán = Zealand

4. Abbreviations

4.1 Abbreviations of longer 2. type country names

The full name of Indonesia in Chinese is 印度尼西亚 (Yìndùníxīyà) which is just a phonetic transliteration of the name Indonesia with the characters having no meaning relation to the name (Although one could argue that 印度 stands for India, which is the real origin of the Indo- part of the name Indonesia). 

印 to engrave

度 degree  

尼 buddhist nun

西 west

亚 second

印度尼西亚 is however too long and since it is a very frequently mentioned country, it was shortened. Two characters from the name 印度尼西亞 specifically 印 and 尼  were chosen and the country Indonesia is called 印尼 in Taiwan.

4.2 Abbreviations of longer 3. type country names

美国 United States of America (Měiguó)

The original full name of the United States of America in Chinese was 亚美理驾合众国 (Yàměilǐjià hézhòngguó) a combination of a phonetic transcription of 'America' and the word 'Federated nation' in Chinese:

亚 second
美 beautiful
理 inner essence
驾 to harness

Yàměilǐjià = America

合众国 Federated nation

As with Indonesia, since USA is a very frequently mentioned country, the name was shortened to

美国

With the character 美 'pretty' chosen respectfully from the name 亚美理驾 and the character 国 'country' added as the second character. The name 美国 thus effectively means 'pretty country' as well.

德国 Germany (Déguó)

Country name originated similarly to the Chinese name of USA. The original name for Germany was 德意志联邦共和国 (Déyìzhì liánbāng gònghéguó) a combination of a phonetic transcription of 'Deutsch' and the word 'Federative republic' in Chinese:

德 virtue
意 idea
志 ambition

Déyìzhì = Deutsch

联邦共和国 = Federative republic

As with Indonesia and USA since Germany is a very frequently mentioned country, the name was shortened to

德国

With the character 德 'virtue' chosen respectfully from the name 德意志 and the character 国 'country' added as the second character. The name 德国 thus effectively means 'virtuous country' as well.

法国 France (Fǎguó)

Country name originated similarly to the Chinese names for USA and Germany. The original name for France was 法兰西国家 (Fǎlánxī guójiā) a combination of the phonetic transcription of 'Francia' and the word 'country' in Chinese:

法 rule, law
兰 orchid
西 west

Fǎlánxī = Francia

国家 country

As with USA and Germany, since France is a very frequently mentioned country, the name was shortened to

法国

With the character 法 'rule, law' chosen respectfully from the name 法兰西 and the character 国 'country' added as the second character. The name 法国 thus effectively means 'country of law' as well. 

List of all UN countries and their Chinese names*

Country name	Simplified Chinese	Pinyin	Name type
Afghanistan	阿富汗	Āfùhàn	2
Albania	阿尔巴尼亚	ā'ěrbāníyǎ	2
Algeria	阿尔及利亚	ā'ěrjílìyǎ	2
Andorra	安道尔	āndào ěr	2
Angola	安哥拉	āngēlā	2
Antigua and Barbuda	安提瓜和巴布达	ān tí guā hé bā bù dá	3
Argentina	阿根廷	āgēntíng	4.2
Armenia	亚美尼亚	yàměiníyǎ	2
Australia	澳大利亚	àodàlìyǎ	2
Austria	奥地利	àodìlì	Probably 2
Azerbaijan	阿塞拜疆	āsèbàijiāng	2
Bahamas	巴哈马	bāhāmǎ	2
Bahrain	巴林	bālín	2
Bangladesh	孟加拉国	mèngjiālā guó	3 Hokkien
Barbados	巴巴多斯	bābāduōsī	2
Belarus	白俄罗斯	bái'èluósī	3
Belgium	比利时	bǐlìshí	2 French
Belize	伯利兹	bó lìzī	2
Benin	贝宁	bèi níng	2
Bhutan	不丹	bù dān	2
Bolivia	玻利维亚	bōlìwéiyǎ	2
Bosnia and Herzegovina	波斯尼亚和黑塞哥维那	bōsīníyǎ hé hēisāigēwéinà	3
Botswana	博茨瓦纳	bócíwǎnà	2
Brazil	巴西	bāxī	2
Brunei	文莱	wén lái	2 Hokkien
Bulgaria	保加利亚	bǎojiālìyǎ	2
Burkina Faso	布基纳法索	bù jī nà fǎ suǒ	2
Burundi	布隆迪	bùlóngdí	2
Cabo Verde	佛得角	fú dé jiǎo	3
Cambodia	柬埔寨	jiǎnpǔzhài	2 Hokkien
Cameroon	喀麦隆	kāmàilóng	2
Canada	加拿大	jiānádà	2
Central African Republic	中非	zhōng fēi	4.3
Chad	乍得	zhàdé	2
Chile	智利	zhìlì	2
China	中国	zhōngguó	1
Colombia	哥伦比亚	gēlúnbǐyǎ	2
Comoros	科摩罗	kē mó luó	2
Congo	刚果	gāngguǒ	2
Costa Rica	哥斯达黎加	gēsīdálíjiā	2
Côte d'Ivoire	科特迪瓦	kētèdíwǎ	2 French
Croatia	克罗地亚	kèluódìyà	4.2
Cuba	古巴	gǔbā	2
Cyprus	塞浦路斯	sāipǔlùsī	2
Czech Republic	捷克	jiékè	4.2
Democratic People's Republic of Korea	朝鲜	cháoxiǎn	?
Democratic Republic of the Congo	刚果民主共和国	gāngguǒ mínzhǔ gònghéguó	3
Denmark	丹麦	dānmài	2
Djibouti	吉布提	jíbùtí	2
Dominica	多米尼加	duōmǐníjiā	2
Dominican Republic	多明尼加共和国	duō míng ní jiā gònghéguó	3
Ecuador	厄瓜多尔	èguāduō'ěr	2
Egypt	埃及	āijí	2
El Salvador	萨尔瓦多	sà'ěrwǎduō	4.2
Equatorial Guinea	赤道几内亚	chìdào jǐnèiyǎ	3
Eritrea	厄立特里亚	èlìtèlǐyǎ	2
Estonia	爱沙尼亚	àishāníyǎ	2
Ethiopia	埃塞俄比亚	āisāi'ébǐyǎ	2
Fiji	斐济	fěijì	2
Finland	芬兰	fēnlán	2
France	法国	fǎguó	4.3
Gabon	加蓬	jiāpéng	2
Gambia	冈比亚	gāngbǐyǎ	2
Georgia	格鲁吉亚	gélǔjíyà	2
Germany	德国	déguó	4.3
Ghana	加纳	jiānà	2
Greece	希腊	xīlà	2 Greek
Grenada	格林纳达	gélínnàdá	2
Guatemala	危地马拉	wēidìmǎlā	2
Guinea	几内亚	jǐnèiyǎ	2
Guinea-Bissau	几内亚比绍	jǐnèiyǎ bǐ shào	2
Guyana	圭亚那	guīyǎnà	2
Haiti	海地	hǎidì	2
Honduras	洪都拉斯	hóngdūlāsī	2
Hungary	匈牙利	xiōngyálì	2
Iceland	冰岛	bīngdǎo	1
India	印度	yìndù	2
Indonesia	印度尼西亚	yìndùníxīyà	2
Iran	伊朗	yīlǎng	2
Iraq	伊拉克	yīlākè	2
Ireland	爱尔兰	ài'ěrlán	2
Israel	以色列	yǐsèliè	2
Italy	意大利	yìdàlì	2
Jamaica	牙买加	yámǎijiā	2
Japan	日本	rìběn	1
Jordan	约旦	yuēdàn	2
Kazakhstan	哈萨克斯坦	hāsàkè sītǎn	2
Kenya	肯尼亚	kěnníyǎ	2
Kiribati	基里巴斯	jīlǐbāsī	2
Kuwait	科威特	kēwēitè	2
Kyrgyzstan	吉尔吉斯斯坦	jí'ěrjísī sītǎn	2
Laos	老挝	lǎowō	2
Latvia	拉脱维亚	lātuōwéiyǎ	2
Lebanon	黎巴嫩	líbānèn	2
Lesotho	莱索托	láisuǒtuō	2
Liberia	利比里亚	lìbǐlǐyǎ	2
Libya	利比亚	lìbǐyǎ	2
Liechtenstein	列支敦士登	lièzhīdūnshìdēng	2
Lithuania	立陶宛	lìtáowǎn	4.2
Luxembourg	卢森堡	lúsēnbǎo	3
Madagascar	马达加斯加	mǎdájiāsījiā	2
Malawi	马拉维	mǎ lā wéi	2
Malaysia	马来西亚	mǎláixīyà	2
Maldives	马尔代夫	mǎ'ěrdàifū	2
Macedonia	马其顿	mǎqídùn	4.2
Mali	马里	mǎlǐ	2
Malta	马耳他	mǎ'ěrtā	2
Marshall Islands	马绍尔群岛	mǎshào'ěr qúndǎo	3
Mauritania	毛里塔尼亚	máolǐtǎníyǎ	2
Mauritius	毛里求斯	máolǐqiúsī	2
Mexico	墨西哥	mòxīgē	2
Micronesia	密克罗尼西亚	mì kè luó ní xī yà	2
Moldova	摩尔多瓦	mó'ěrduōwǎ	2
Monaco	摩纳哥	mónàgē	2
Mongolia	蒙古	ménggǔ	？
Montenegro	黑山	hēishān	1
Morocco	摩洛哥	móluògē	2
Mozambique	莫桑比克	mòsāngbǐkè	2
Myanmar	缅甸	miǎndiàn	1
Namibia	纳米比亚	nàmǐbǐyǎ	2
Nauru	瑙鲁	nǎo lǔ	2
Nepal	尼泊尔	níbó'ěr	2
Netherlands	荷兰	hélán	2
New Zealand	新西兰	xīnxīlán	3
Nicaragua	尼加拉瓜	níjiālāguā	2
Niger	尼日尔	nírì'ěr	2
Nigeria	尼日利亚	nírìlìyǎ	2
Norway	挪威	nuówēi	2
Oman	阿曼	āmàn	2
Pakistan	巴基斯坦	bājīsītǎn	2
Palau	帕劳	pà láo	2
Panama	巴拿马	bānámǎ	2
Papua New Guinea	巴布亚新几内亚	bābùyǎ xīn jǐnèiyǎ	3
Paraguay	巴拉圭	bālāguī	2
Peru	秘鲁	bìlǔ	2
Philippines	菲律宾	fēilǜbīn	2
Poland	波兰	bōlán	2
Portugal	葡萄牙	pútáoyá	？
Qatar	卡塔尔	kǎtǎ'ěr	2
Romania	罗马尼亚	luómǎníyǎ	2
Russian Federation	俄罗斯	èluósī	2 Mongolian
Rwanda	卢旺达	lúwàngdá	2
Saint Kitts and Nevis	圣基茨和尼维斯	shèng jī cí hé ní wéi sī	3
Saint Lucia	圣卢西亚	shèng lú xīyǎ	3
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	圣文森特和格林纳丁斯	shèngwénsēntè hé gélín nà dīng sī	3
Samoa	萨摩亚	sàmó yǎ	2
San Marino	圣马力诺	shèngmǎlìnuò	3
Sao Tome and Principe	圣多美和普林西比	shèng duō měihé pǔ lín xī bǐ	3
Saudi Arabia	沙特阿拉伯	shātè ālābó	2
Senegal	塞内加尔	sài nèi jiā'ěr	2
Serbia	塞尔维亚	sài'ěrwéiyǎ	2
Seychelles	塞舌尔	sāi shé ěr	2
Sierra Leone	塞拉利昂	sèlālì'áng	2
Singapore	新加坡	xīnjiāpō	2 Hokkien
Slovakia	斯洛伐克	sīluòfákè	4.2
Slovenia	斯洛文尼亚	sīluòwénníyǎ	2
Solomon Islands	所罗门群岛	suǒluómén qúndǎo	3
Somalia	索马里	suǒmǎlǐ	4.2
South Africa	南非	nánfēi	4.3
South Korea	韩国	hánguó	1
South Sudan	南苏丹	nán sūdān	3
Spain	西班牙	xībānyá	2
Sri Lanka	斯里兰卡	sīlǐlánkǎ	2
Sudan	苏丹	sūdān	2
Suriname	苏里南	sūlǐnán	2
Swaziland	斯威士兰	sī wēi shì lán	2
Sweden	瑞典	ruìdiǎn	2 Hokkien
Switzerland	瑞士	ruìshì	2 Hokkien/French
Syria	叙利亚	xùlìyǎ	2
Tajikistan	塔吉克斯坦	tǎjíkè sītǎn	2
Tanzania	坦桑尼亚	tǎnsāngníyǎ	2
Thailand	泰国	tàiguó	4.3
Timor-Leste	东帝汶	dōngdìwèn	?
Togo	多哥	duō gē	2
Tonga	汤加	tāngjiā	2
Trinidad and Tobago	特立尼达和多巴哥	tè lì ní dá hé duō bā gē	3
Tunisia	突尼斯	túnísī	2
Turkey	土耳其	tǔ'ěrqí	2
Turkmenistan	土库曼斯坦	tǔkùmàn sītǎn	2
Tuvalu	图瓦卢	tú wǎ lú	2
Uganda	乌干达	wūgāndá	2
Ukraine	乌克兰	wūkèlán	4.2
United Arab Emirates	阿拉伯联合酋长国	ālābó liánhé qiúzhǎngguó	3
United Kingdom	英国	yīngguó	4.3
United States of America	美国	měiguó	4.3
Uruguay	乌拉圭	wūlāguī	2
Uzbekistan	乌兹别克斯坦	wūzībiékè sītǎn	2
Vanuatu	瓦努阿图	wǎnǔ'ātú	2
Venezuela	委内瑞拉	wěinèiruìlā	4.2
Viet Nam	越南	yuènán	1
Yemen	也门	yěmén	2
Zambia	赞比亚	zànbǐyǎ	2
Zimbabwe	津巴布韦	Jīnbābùwéi	2

*As used in Mainland China