Hong Kong

See also: Hongkong, Hong-kong, Hong-Kong, and Hồng Kông

English

Flag of Hong Kong

Alternative forms

• HK (initialism)
• Hong-Kong, Hong-kong, Honkong (obsolete)
• Hongkong (dated)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Cantonese 香港 (hoeng¹ gong²)bor.

English Hong Kong

From Cantonese 香港 (hoeng¹ gong², “fragrant harbor”), the former name of a settlement in what is now Aberdeen on the southwest side of Hong Kong Island, where incense was stored for export.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌhɒŋˈkɒŋ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌhɔŋˈkɔŋ/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˌhɑŋˈkɑŋ/
• (Hong Kong) IPA^(key): [hɔŋ˥ kʰɔŋ˥]
• Rhymes: -ɒŋ
• enPR: hǒngʹ kǒngʹ

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

Proper noun

Hong Kong

1. A city in southeastern China, located on an island east of the Pearl River delta in the South China Sea; formerly owned by the United Kingdom.
   • 1850 December, “Foreign News”, in The Gentleman's Magazine‎^[2], volume XXXIV, London: John Bowyer Nichols and Son, page 645:

     CHINA.
     A rebellion of more than ordinary importance is in progress in this country. At the departure of the last mail from Hong Kong numerous bands of robbers were plundering and burning throughout the provinces of Kangsi and Canton, and, having captured the city of Kintschan, had advanced to within 120 English miles of Canton.

   • 1964, John F. Kennedy, A Nation of Immigrants‎^[3], Revised and Enlarged edition, Harper & Row, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 78–79:

     In 1962 a special law had to be passed to permit the immigration of several thousand Chinese refugees who had escaped from Communist China to Hong Kong.

   • 2005, Bill Clinton, My Life‎^[4], volume II, New York: Vintage Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 437:

     The Chinese had promised to let Hong Kong keep its much more democratic political system, but I had the clear impression that the details of their reunion were still being worked out, and that neither side was fully satisfied with the present state of affairs.

   • 2022 May 11, “Reports: Hong Kong arrests Roman Catholic cardinal, 3 others”, in AP News‎^[5], archived from the original on 12 May 2022:

     A 90-year-old Roman Catholic cardinal, a singer and at least two others have been arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces to endanger China’s national security, in an action widely condemned as a further sign of Beijing’s erosion of rights in the city.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Hong Kong.
2. An island in southeastern China, Hong Kong Island, the site of the city of the same name, lying off Guangdong (Canton) province.
   • 2016, Carolyn Phillips, “The Coastal Southeast”, in All Under Heaven: Recipes from the 35 Cuisines of China‎^[6], Ten Speed Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 189:

     Sampans and punts crowded the tight harbors of places like Shau Kei Wan on Hong Kong Island, and these fisherfolk cooked up the day’s catch for their customers on the most minimal of stoves.

   • 2019 April 17, Marcelle Sussman Fischler, “House Hunting in … Hong Kong”, in The New York Times‎^[7], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-04-17, Real Estate‎^[8]:

     This two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom apartment is in the western section of Mid-Levels, an affluent residential area built into the northern slope of Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong.

3. A special administrative region of China, which includes the city and island of the same name as well as nearby islands and the Kowloon Peninsula.
4. (historical) A colony of the United Kingdom, which previously administered the area of the present-day Chinese special administrative region.

Synonyms

• (from Mandarin Chinese) Hsiang Kang, Xianggang (rare)

Derived terms

• Hongcouver
• Hongkonger, Hong Konger
• Hongkongese
• Hong Kong Sign Language
• Hong Kong Time

 

Translations

coastal administrative region in south-east China

• Abkhaz: Ҳонқонг (Ḥonkong), Ҳонконг (Ḥonkʼong)
• Afrikaans: Hongkong
• Albanian: Hong Kong
• Amharic: ሆንግ ኮንግ (hong kong)
• Arabic: هُونْغ كُونْغ f (hōnḡ kōnḡ), هُونْج كُونْج f (hōng kōng), هُونْق كُونْق f (hōng kōng)

  Hijazi Arabic: هُونْق كُونْق f (hōng kōng)

• Aragonese: Hong Kong
• Armenian: Հոնկոնգ (Honkong)
• Assamese: হংকং (hoṅkoṅ)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܗܘܿܢܓ ܟܘܿܢܓ f (hong kong)
• Asturian: Ḥong Kong (ast)
• Azerbaijani: Honq Konq, Syanqan
• Bashkir: Гонконг (Gonkong), Һоңкоң (Hoñkoñ)
• Basque: Hong Kong
• Belarusian: Ганко́нг m (Hankónh), Сянга́н m (Sjanhán)
• Bengali: হংকং (bn) (hoṅkoṅ), হং কং (hoṅ koṅ)
• Bishnupriya Manipuri: হংকং (haṅkaṁ)
• Breton: Hong Kong
• Bulgarian: Хонко́нг m (Honkóng), Сянга́н m (Sjangán), Хонг Конг (bg) m (Hong Kong)
• Burmese: ဟောင်ကောင် (haungkaung)
• Catalan: Hong Kong (ca)
• Cebuano: Hong Kong
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 香港 (yue) (hoeng¹ gong²)

  Eastern Min: 香港 (Hiŏng-gē̤ng)

  Hakka: 香港 (Hiông-kóng)

  Hokkien: 香港 (zh-min-nan) (Hiong-káng, Hiang-káng)

  Mandarin: 香港 (zh) (Xiānggǎng)

  Wu: 香港 (¹shian-kaon)

• Cornish: Hong Kong
• Czech: Hongkong (cs) m
• Danish: Hongkong
• Dhivehi: ހޮންކޮންގު (hon̊kon̊gu)
• Dutch: Hongkong (nl) n
• Dzongkha: ཧོང་ཀོང (hong kong)
• Esperanto: Honkongo
• Estonian: Hongkong
• Finnish: Hongkong (fi)
• French: Hong Kong (fr) m, Hongkong (fr) m, Xianggang (fr) m
• Georgian: ჰონგკონგი (hongḳongi)
• German: Hongkong (de) n
• Greek: Χονγκ Κονγκ (el) (Chongk Kongk)
• Gujarati: હોંગકોંગ (hoṅgkoṅg)
• Hawaiian: Honokaona
• Hebrew: הונג קונג m (hong kong), הונג־קונג m (hong-kong)
• Hindi: हांग कांग (hāṅg kāṅg), हांगकांग (hāṅgkāṅg), हाँग काँग (hāṅg kāṅg)
• Hong Kong Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: Hongkong (hu)
• Icelandic: Hong Kong
• Ido: Hong Kong
• Ilocano: Hong Kong
• Indonesian: Hong Kong
• Interlingua: Hong Kong
• Irish: Hong Cong
• Italian: Hong Kong (it) f
• Japanese: 香港 (ja) (ホンコン, Honkon), ホンコン (ja) (Honkon), シャンガン (Shangan)
• Javanese: Hong Kong
• Kannada: ಹಾಂಗ್ ಕಾಂಗ್ (hāṅg kāṅg)
• Kapampangan: Hong Kong
• Kazakh: Гонконг (kk) (Gonkoñ)
• Khmer: ហុងកុង (km) (hongkong)
• Korean: 홍콩 (ko) (Hongkong), 향항(香港) (Hyanghang)
• Kyrgyz: Гонконг (Gonkong), Сянган (Syangan)
• Lao: ຮ່ອງກົງ (hǭng kong), ຮົງກົງ (hong kong)
• Latin: Hongcongum, Siamkiamum
• Latvian: Honkonga f, Sjangana f
• Ligurian: Hong Kong
• Limburgish: Hong Kong
• Lithuanian: Honkongas (lt) m, Siangangas (lt) m
• Lombard: Hong Kong
• Low German: Hongkong
• Lü: ᦶᦌᧂᧈᦅᦱᧂ (saeng¹kaang)
• Luxembourgish: Hong Kong (lb)
• Macedonian: Хонгконг m (Hongkong)
• Malay: Hong Kong
• Malayalam: ഹോങ്കോങ് (hōṅkōṅŭ)
• Manchu: ᠰᡳᠶᠠᠩ
  ᡤᠠᠩ (siyang gang)
• Maori: Hongipua
• Marathi: हाँग काँग (hŏṅga kŏṅga)
• Mazanderani: هونگ کونگ
• Mongolian: Хонконг (Xonkong), Шианган (Šiangan)
• Nahuatl: Hong Kong
• Navajo: Shádiʼááhjí Tsiiʼyishbizhí Bikin Haalʼá
• Norman: Hong Kong m
• Norwegian: Hongkong
• Occitan: Hong Kong
• Odia: ହଂକଂ (haṅkaṁ)
• Ossetian: Гонконг (Gonkong)
• Pashto: هانګ کانګ (hāng kāng), هاڼ کاڼ (hāṅ kāṅ)
• Persian: هنگ کنگ (hong kong), هنگ‌کنگ (hong-kong)
• Polish: Hongkong (pl) m
• Portuguese: Hong Kong (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਹਾਂਗ ਕਾਂਗ (hāṅg kāṅg)
• Romanian: Hong Kong
• Russian: Гонко́нг (ru) m (Gonkóng), Сянга́н (ru) m (Sjangán) (very uncommon)
• Samogitian: Huonkuongs
• Santali: ᱦᱚᱝᱠᱚᱝ (hôṅkôṅ)
• Scottish Gaelic: Hong Cong
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Хонг Конг m

  Roman: Hong Kong (sh) m

• Sicilian: Hong Kong
• Silesian: Hůngkůng
• Sinhalese: හොංකොං (hoṁkoṁ)
• Slovak: Hongkong m
• Slovene: Hong Kong m
• Spanish: Hong Kong (es) m
• Sundanese: Hong Kong
• Swahili: Hong Kong
• Swedish: Hongkong (sv)
• Tagalog: Hongkong
• Tajik: Гонконг (tg) (Gonkong), Сянган (Syangan)
• Tamil: ஹொங்கொங் (hoṅkoṅ)
• Tatar: Гонконг (Ğonkong), Һоңконг (Hoñkong)
• Telugu: హాంగ్కాంగ్ (hāṅgkāṅg)
• Thai: ฮ่องกง (th) (hɔ̂ng-gong)
• Tibetan: ཞང་ཀང (zhang kang), ཤང་ཀང (shang kang), ཤའང་ཀའང (sha'ang ka'ang)
• Turkish: Hong Kong (tr)
• Turkmen: Sýangan, Gonkong
• Ukrainian: Гонко́нг m (Honkónh), Сянга́н m (Sjanhán), Сянґа́н m (Sjangán)
• Urdu: ہانگ کانگ (hāṅg kāṅg)
• Uyghur: شياڭگاڭ (shyanggang), شاڭگاڭ (shanggang)
• Uzbek: Syangan, Gonkong
• Venetan: Hong Kong
• Vietnamese: Hồng Kông (vi), Hương Cảng (vi) (香港 (vi))
• Welsh: Hong Kong (cy), Hong Cong
• Wolof: Ooŋ Koŋ
• Yakut: Хоҥ Коҥ (Qoñ Koñ), Сяҥгаҥ (Sañgañ)
• Yiddish: האָנג קאָנג n (hong kong), האָנגקאָנג n (hongkong)
• Zazaki: Hong Kong
• Zhuang: Yanghgangj, ^{(please verify)} Homgongj

Finnish

Proper noun

Hong Kong

1. Alternative spelling of Hongkong, a city, island, and special administrative region in southeastern China

Declension

Inflection of Hong Kong (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative		Hong Kong	—
genitive		Hong Kongin	—
partitive		Hong Kongia	—
illative		Hong Kongiin	—
		singular	plural
nominative		Hong Kong	—
accusative	nom.	Hong Kong	—
	gen.	Hong Kongin
genitive		Hong Kongin	—
partitive		Hong Kongia	—
inessive		Hong Kongissa	—
elative		Hong Kongista	—
illative		Hong Kongiin	—
adessive		Hong Kongilla	—
ablative		Hong Kongilta	—
allative		Hong Kongille	—
essive		Hong Kongina	—
translative		Hong Kongiksi	—
abessive		Hong Kongitta	—
instructive		—	—
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of Hong Kong (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative Hong Kongini — accusative nom. Hong Kongini — gen. Hong Kongini genitive Hong Kongini — partitive Hong Kongiani — inessive Hong Kongissani — elative Hong Kongistani — illative Hong Kongiini — adessive Hong Kongillani — ablative Hong Kongiltani — allative Hong Kongilleni — essive Hong Konginani — translative Hong Kongikseni — abessive Hong Kongittani — instructive — — comitative — — second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative Hong Kongisi — accusative nom. Hong Kongisi — gen. Hong Kongisi genitive Hong Kongisi — partitive Hong Kongiasi — inessive Hong Kongissasi — elative Hong Kongistasi — illative Hong Kongiisi — adessive Hong Kongillasi — ablative Hong Kongiltasi — allative Hong Kongillesi — essive Hong Konginasi — translative Hong Kongiksesi — abessive Hong Kongittasi — instructive — — comitative — — first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative Hong Kongimme — accusative nom. Hong Kongimme — gen. Hong Kongimme genitive Hong Kongimme — partitive Hong Kongiamme — inessive Hong Kongissamme — elative Hong Kongistamme — illative Hong Kongiimme — adessive Hong Kongillamme — ablative Hong Kongiltamme — allative Hong Kongillemme — essive Hong Konginamme — translative Hong Kongiksemme — abessive Hong Kongittamme — instructive — — comitative — — second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative Hong Konginne — accusative nom. Hong Konginne — gen. Hong Konginne genitive Hong Konginne — partitive Hong Kongianne — inessive Hong Kongissanne — elative Hong Kongistanne — illative Hong Kongiinne — adessive Hong Kongillanne — ablative Hong Kongiltanne — allative Hong Kongillenne — essive Hong Konginanne — translative Hong Kongiksenne — abessive Hong Kongittanne — instructive — — comitative — — third-person possessor singular plural nominative Hong Konginsa — accusative nom. Hong Konginsa — gen. Hong Konginsa genitive Hong Konginsa — partitive Hong Kongiaan Hong Kongiansa — inessive Hong Kongissaan Hong Kongissansa — elative Hong Kongistaan Hong Kongistansa — illative Hong Kongiinsa — adessive Hong Kongillaan Hong Kongillansa — ablative Hong Kongiltaan Hong Kongiltansa — allative Hong Kongilleen Hong Kongillensa — essive Hong Konginaan Hong Konginansa — translative Hong Kongikseen Hong Kongiksensa — abessive Hong Kongittaan Hong Kongittansa — instructive — — comitative — —

French

Pronunciation

• ^{(aspirated h)}IPA^(key): /ɔ̃ɡ.kɔ̃ɡ/, /ɔŋ.kɔŋ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

Proper noun

Hong Kong f

1. Hong Kong (a city, island, and special administrative region in southeastern China)

See also

• Hongkong

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• Hongkong (dated)
• Honguecongue

Etymology

From Cantonese 香港 (hoeng¹ gong², “fragrant harbour”).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌʁõˈkõ/ [ˌhõˈkõ], /ˌʁõ.ɡiˈkõ.ɡi/ [ˌhõ.ɡiˈkõ.ɡi]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌʁõˈkõ/ [ˌhõˈkõ], /ˌʁõ.ɡiˈkõ.ɡi/ [ˌhõ.ɡiˈkõ.ɡi]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˌʁõˈkõ/ [ˌχõˈkõ], /ˌʁõ.ɡiˈkõ.ɡi/ [ˌχõ.ɡiˈkõ.ɡi]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌʁõˈkõ/ [ˌhõˈkõ], /ˌʁõ.ɡiˈkõ.ɡe/ [ˌhõ.ɡiˈkõ.ɡe]

Proper noun

Hong Kong f

1. Hong Kong (a city, island, and special administrative region in southeastern China)

Romanian

Proper noun

Hong Kong n

1. Hong Kong

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• Hongkong

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /xônɡ kônɡ/

Proper noun

Hȍng Kȍng m (Cyrillic spelling Хо̏нг Ко̏нг)

1. Hong Kong (a city, island, and special administrative region in southeastern China)

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /xonˈkon/ [xõŋˈkõn]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -on

Proper noun

Hong Kong ?

1. Hong Kong (a city, island, and special administrative region in southeastern China)

Related terms

• hongkonés

 

Further reading

• “Hong Kong” in Diccionario panhispánico de dudas, segunda edición, Real Academia Española, 2023. →ISBN

Tagalog

Alternative forms

• Hongkong

Etymology

Borrowed from English Hong Kong, from Cantonese 香港 (hoeng¹ gong², “Fragrant Harbor”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˌhoŋ ˈkoŋ/ [ˌhoŋ ˈkoŋ]
• Rhymes: -oŋ
• Syllabification: Hong Kong

Proper noun

Hong Kong (Baybayin spelling ᜑᜓᜅ᜔ ᜃᜓᜅ᜔)

1. Hong Kong (a city, island, and special administrative region in southern China)