Tonkinese

Tonkin +‎ -ese.

Tonkinese (not comparable)

1. Of or relating to Tonkin, the northern part of Vietnam.

Tonkinese (plural Tonkinese or Tonkineses)

1. A person from Tonkin.
   • 1925, Cl Chivas-Baron, Three Women of Annam, page 124:

     The Occidental who lives in that splendid house on the Phù-Cam is married to a Tonkinese. It's more than ten years ago he brought her here. He has never had any second wives. He gave his father-in-law a teakwood coffin.

   • 1962, Anuruddha, The Protecting Hand:

     A great number of Legionaires had married Tonkineses and had children by them. According to French law, a child born on French soil is a citizen of France, whether the father and mother are French or not, so also in Indo-China […]

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Tonkinese.
2. A domestic cat of a breed that is a cross between the Siamese and Burmese.

   Synonym: (abbreviation) Tonk

   • 2001, Lorraine Shelton, The Guide to Owning a Tonkinese Cat, TFH Publications, →ISBN:

     Do not consider bringing home a Tonkinese unless you have time in your life for games […]

As with other terms for people formed with -ese, the countable singular noun in reference to a person (as in "I am a Tonkinese", "writing about Tonkinese cuisine as a Tonkinese") is uncommon and often taken as incorrect. In its place, the adjective is used, by itself (as in "I am Tonkinese") or with a word like person, man, or woman ("writing about Tonkinese cuisine as a Tonkinese person"). (This applies to the sense "a person from Tonkin".)

Tonkinese

1. The language of Tonkin; northern Vietnamese.

• Tonkinese (cat) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Category:Tonkinese on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons