shrub or small tree having flattened globose fruit with very sweet aromatic pulp and thin yellow-orange to flame-orange rind that is loose and easily removed; native to southeastern Asia
"The local farmers harvested the ripe mandarin oranges from their trees in southeastern Asia."
a member of an elite intellectual or cultural group
"The new art gallery was designed by a self-styled mandarin who insisted that only traditional techniques were worthy of preservation."
any high government official or bureaucrat
"The new policy was quickly implemented by the mandarin in charge of the provincial administration."
a high public official of imperial China
"The ambitious scholar dreamed of becoming a mandarin and serving his emperor in the capital."
a somewhat flat reddish-orange loose skinned citrus of China
"The fresh mandarin fruit from the local orchard had thin, easy-to-peel skin and sweet segments."
the dialect of Chinese spoken in Beijing and adopted as the official language for all of China
"The teacher explained that although many regional accents exist, Mandarin is the standard dialect of Chinese used throughout the country."
a high government bureaucrat of the Chinese Empire
"After years of studying abroad, she finally felt comfortable speaking standard Mandarin to her new colleagues."
Ellipsis of mandarin orange:
a small, sweet citrus fruit
Standard Mandarin, an official language of China and Taiwan, and one of four official languages in Singapore; Putonghua, Guoyu or Huayu
In plain English: A mandarin is an orange-colored citrus fruit that tastes sweet and sour with thick skin.
"She prefers drinking sweet tea with her morning mandarin oranges from the bowl on the counter."
Usage: Use "mandarin" only when referring specifically to an official in imperial China or the citrus fruit; avoid it as slang for pretentious language, which is now considered archaic. Do not confuse this term with "Mandarin," capitalized to denote a specific dialect of Chinese.
pertaining to or reminiscent of mandarins; deliberately superior or complex; esoteric, highbrow, obscurantist
"The professor's mandarin lecture on quantum linguistics left the entire audience baffled by its unnecessarily obscure vocabulary."
In plain English: Mandarin means something that is very important, official, or high-ranking within an organization.
"The mandarin oranges are sweet and juicy this season."
The word "mandarin" comes from the Portuguese mandarim, which was borrowed from Malay. Its ultimate origin is Sanskrit, where it originally meant "minister" or "councillor."