Manhua

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Comics originating from China, drawn in a style influenced by Japanese manga and published in Chinese-speaking regions
2. A Chinese form of illustrated comic book or graphic novel, often serialized and read in print or digitally
3. Illustrated sequential storytelling from China, the Chinese counterpart of Japanese manga, rendered in graphic panels

Etymology: "Manhua" is a Mandarin word, written 漫畫 or 漫画 and pronounced "mànhuà", and its two characters are the same ones that make up the Japanese "manga." The Chinese term was built from "màn" (casual, unrestrained, or random) and "huà" (picture or drawing), so it means something like "casual pictures." The Japanese word takes the same characters and reads them as "manga," with the sense of whimsical or unconstrained sketches. The direction of borrowing is the surprising part. The Japanese term came first, and Chinese took its own characters back from Japan as a loanword, so "manhua" is in a sense a Chinese word that was borrowed from Japanese and then re-adopted in its native form. The two words now sit side by side as doublets, alongside "manhwa," the Korean counterpart, all three descending from the same pair of characters.