རྒྱ་སྐད

Tibetan

Etymology

From རྒྱ (rgya, “expanse, empire”) +‎ སྐད (skad, “language”). The first part may be an abbreviation for either རྒྱ་ནག (rgya nag, “China”) or རྒྱ་གར (rgya gar, “India”).

Pronunciation

Old Tibetan: /*rɡʲa.skat/
Lhasa: /ɟa˩˨.kɛːˑ/

Old Tibetan:
- IPA^(key): /*rɡʲa.skat/ (reconstructed)
Ü-Tsang
- Tibetan pinyin: ghya^v-gae
- (Lhasa) IPA^(key): /ɟa˩˨.kɛːˑ/

Noun

རྒྱ་སྐད • (rgya skad)

Usage notes

The meaning of this term must be determined from context. It generally refers to Mandarin when used by Tibetan speakers in China and to Hindi when used by Tibetan speakers in India.