chinoisn.

Etymology: < Middle French, French chinois (noun) inhabitant of China (1575 in the passage translated in quot. 1594), the Chinese language (1604 or earlier), (in cookery) conical strainer (1903 or earlier; compare earlier passoire chinoise : see note), (adjective) relating to the Chinese language (1586 or earlier), relating to China (1599 or earlier) < Chine , the name of China (see China n.¹) + -ois -ese suffix. Compare Chinese n.In the β. forms (with final -e ) perhaps influenced by Chinese n.; with the former plural form Chinoises compare the discussion of the former plural Chineses at Chinese n. Use in cookery. In sense 2 perhaps so called with reference to the shape of the strainer being taken to resemble a kind of conical straw hat traditionally used in parts of East Asia (compare china cap, denoting a similar implement (1901)), although the earlier French phrase passoire chinoise, literally ‘Chinese strainer’ (1873 as passoire chinois, or earlier) may also suggest a more immediate association with Chinese culture. It is unclear whether occasional earlier examples in English contexts should be interpreted as showing the English or the French word (which is apparently first attested later as a noun); compare the following (in a glossary of both English and French terms):1894 C. H. Senn Pract. Gastron. & Culinary Dict. (ed. 2) 514 Chinois, a strainer with very fine holes, used for straining clear soups and gravies.