Kubilai

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The thirteenth-century Mongol ruler who conquered Song China and founded the Yuan dynasty as its first emperor
2. Mongol great khan and grandson of Genghis Khan, remembered as the founder of China's Yuan dynasty
3. A historical Mongol emperor, Kublai, who unified much of China and established the Yuan dynasty in the 1270s

Etymology: Kubilai is the personal name of Kublai Khan (c. 1215–1294), the Mongol ruler who founded the Yuan dynasty in China and whose court was described by Marco Polo. The name is a Mongolian personal name, and it is generally taken to be the source of the English form "Kubla" in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1816 poem "Kubla Khan," which made the ruler's name familiar to English readers far beyond the history books. The Mongolian name is usually connected with a word meaning "hard" or "strong," though the exact etymology is uncertain and scholars have proposed several readings. Its spelling in English has varied widely, reflecting the different transliteration systems used for Mongolian and Chinese sources, including forms such as "Kublai" and "Kubilai."