Tonkin

English

Etymology 1

From a medieval diminutive form of the given name Thomas.

Proper noun

Tonkin (plural Tonkins)

1. A surname transferred from the given name.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Tonkin is the 15418^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 1900 individuals. Tonkin is most common among White (94.68%) individuals.

Etymology 2

From French Tonkin, from Vietnamese Đông Kinh (“Hanoi; its former kingdom”), from đông (“east, eastern”) + kinh (“capital”), from Middle Chinese 東京 (tuŋ kˠiæŋ), q.v.

Proper noun

Tonkin

1. (archaic) Synonym of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.
2. (historical) A former kingdom in northern Vietnam.
3. (historical) A former protectorate in northern Vietnam, a colony of France.
4. Short for Gulf of Tonkin, a gulf in northern Vietnam.
5. Short for Gulf of Tonkin incident, a 1964 event used to increase US involvement in the Vietnamese Civil War.

Alternative forms

• (archaic) Tonquin, Tong-King

Derived terms

• Gulf of Tonkin
• Tonkinese
• Tonkin pit viper

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Tonkin”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 3, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN.

Anagrams

• inknot, kinnot

French

Alternative forms

• Tonking (obsolete)

Etymology

From Vietnamese Đông Kinh, a former name for Hanoi. Also see Pékin (“Beijing”) and Nankin (“Nanjing”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɔ̃.kɛ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Tonkin m

1. (history) the northern part of Vietnam, a former French colonial region
2. A gulf in northern Vietnam: the Gulf of Tonkin

Derived terms

• golfe du Tonkin
• haricot du Tonkin
• Tonkinois
• tonkinois

Descendants

• English: Tonkin

See also

• Annam
• Cochinchine