English word origin

Etymology of liang

The atonal Wade-Giles and pinyin romanization of the standard Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 兩 /两 (liǎng). Doublet of leung and yang.

1 source sectionExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗

In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗

noun

Synonym of tael, a former Chinese unit of weight (about 40 g) and a related unit of silver currency.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

The atonal Wade-Giles and pinyin romanization of the standard Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 兩 /两 (liǎng). Doublet of leung and yang.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Derivation mention兩zh
Doublet mentionleungen
Doublet mentionyangen

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "bor",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cmn",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Mandarin"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "zh",
        "3": "兩",
        "tr": "liǎng"
      },
      "expansion": "Chinese 兩 /两 (liǎng)"
    },
    {
      "name": "doublet",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "leung",
        "3": "yang"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of leung and yang"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "atonal",
      "atonal"
    ],
    [
      "Wade-Giles",
      "Wade-Giles"
    ],
    [
      "pinyin",
      "pinyin"
    ],
    [
      "兩",
      "兩#Chinese"
    ],
    [
      "两",
      "两#Chinese"
    ],
    [
      "leung",
      "leung#English"
    ],
    [
      "yang",
      "yang#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of tael, a former Chinese unit of weight (about 40 g) and a related unit of silver currency."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical"
      ],
      "recordId": "05ba6246ddb977345b6ef5b6fe942389956d78758deed15bebe38d9b1f6e64ca",
      "rawRecordSha256": "293a5f05036d6aa957b31a58e64088f862c1d54864c1455057665574f866adde",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 835621
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for liang →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger

Machine-source provenance

Source SHA-256: 5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run: 73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID: w-bGlhbmc