Huáyǔ

Huáyǔ (Huá·yǔ {Magnificent; Splendid; Flowery; Florescent → [Chinese]} · Language → [(Modern Standard) Mandarin (term commonly used in Singapore)] 华语 華語) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

This is the expression commonly used in Singapore to refer to (Modern Standard) Mandarin.

The “Huá (magnificent; splendid; flowery; florescent [→ [Chinese]] 华 華)” in “Huáyǔ (Huá·yǔ {Magnificent; Splendid; Flowery; Florescent → [Chinese]} · Language → [(Modern Standard) Mandarin (term commonly used in Singapore)] 华语 華語)” is, incidentally, the “huá (magnificent; splendid; flowery; florescent [→ [Chinese]] 华 華)” in “Yēhéhuá (Jehovah 耶和华 耶和華)”, in which it is mainly used for its sound. “Huá (magnificent; splendid; flowery; florescent [→ [Chinese]] 华 華)” seems to have a root meaning of “flower” or “flowery”, and is used in several expressions to mean “China” or “Chinese”. In addition to “Huáyǔ (Huá·yǔ {Magnificent; Splendid; Flowery; Florescent → [Chinese]} · Language → [(Modern Standard) Mandarin (term commonly used in Singapore)] 华语 華語)”, some other examples are:

• Zhōnghuá (Zhōng·huá Central · Flower → [China] 中华 中華)
• Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghé Guó ((Zhōng·huá Central · Flower → [China] 中华 中華) (Rén·mín People’s 人民) (Gònghé Guó (Gòng·hé Shared · Harmony → [Republic] 共和) (Guó Nation 国 國) → [Republic]) → [People’s Republic of China])
• Zhōnghuá Mínguó ((Zhōng·huá Central · Flower → [China] 中华 中華) (Mín·guó People’s · Nation 民国 民國) → [Republic of China (Taiwan)])
• Huárén (Huá·rén {Magnificent; Splendid; Flowery; Florescent → [Chinese]} · {People | Person[s] | Man/Men} 华人 華人)
• Huáqiáo (Huá·qiáo {Magnificent; Splendid; Flowery; Florescent → [Chinese]} · {Living Abroad (People/Person[s])} → [overseas Chinese people/person[s]] 华侨 華僑)

Wikipedia summarizes that “huá (magnificent; splendid; flowery; florescent [→ [Chinese]] 华 華)” used in connection with China is short for “Huáxià (Huá·xià Magnificent; Splendid; Flowery; Florescent · {Summer → [Xià (Dynasty)]} → [historical concept representing the Chinese nation and civilization] 华夏 華夏)”, an expression that dates back millennia:

Huaxia is a historical concept representing the Chinese nation and civilization

Huaxia refers to a confederation of tribes—living along the Yellow River—who were the ancestors of what later became the Han ethnic group in China^{[source][source]}. During the Warring States (475–221 BCE), the self-awareness of the Huaxia identity developed and took hold in ancient China.^[source]

The term Huaren (華人) for a Chinese person is an abbreviation of Huaxia with ren (人, person).^[source] Huaren in general is used for people of Chinese ethnicity, in contrast to Zhongguoren (中國人) which usually (but not always) refers to citizens of China.^[source] Although some may use Zhongguoren to refer to the Chinese ethnicity, such usage is not accepted by some in Taiwan.^[source] In overseas Chinese communities in countries such as Singapore and Malaysia, Huaren or Huaqiao (overseas Chinese) is used as they are not citizens of China.^{[source][source]}

Interestingly, since “huá (magnificent; splendid; flowery; florescent [→ [Chinese]] 华 華)” can mean “flower”, and since the roots of referring to Chinese people as “Huárén (Huá·rén {Magnificent; Splendid; Flowery; Florescent → [Chinese]} · {People | Person[s] | Man/Men} 华人 華人)” go back millennia, that means that Chinese people were “flower people” long before the hippies of the West were!

Unfortunately, politics sometimes raises its ugly head in language matters, and so it is worth noting that in some situations, there may be political implications of using “Huáyǔ (Huá·yǔ {Magnificent; Splendid; Flowery; Florescent → [Chinese]} · Language → [(Modern Standard) Mandarin (term commonly used in Singapore)] 华语 華語)” or one of the other ways to refer to (Modern Standard) Mandarin in Mandarin. For more information, see these posts on the excellent Language Log blog:

• The ethnopolitics of National Language in China
• "National Language" in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

Posts on this Mandarin Expression of the Week blog about other Mandarin expressions used to refer to (Modern Standard) Mandarin can be viewed using the link for the Mandarin tag.