Editing Guangzhou (section)

== Toponymy ==
[[File:Wuxian Xiadong.jpg|thumb|left|157px|Portrait of the [[Grotto of the Five Immortals]], the [[Taoist]] temple around the five stones which gave Guangzhou its nickname "The City of Rams"]]

{{Transliteration|zh|Guǎngzhōu}} is the official [[Romanization of Chinese|romanization]] of the Chinese name {{zhi|s=广州}}. The name of the city is taken from the ancient [[Guǎng Prefecture]] after it had become the prefecture's seat of government. The [[Chinese character|character]] {{linktext|lang=zh-Hant|廣}} or {{linktext|lang=zh-Hans|广}} means 'broad' or 'expansive'.

Before acquiring its current name, the town was known as Panyu (Punyü; {{linktext|lang=zh-Hant|番禺}}), a name still borne by [[Panyu District|one of Guangzhou's districts]] not far from the main city. The origin of the name is still uncertain, with 11 various explanations being offered,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.gz.gov.cn/gzgov/472/201907/e86edd6a7d684bc3b9c1d784b3b156c5/files/3bfe7fff804e4b0fba0a4755f516a2c1.pdf |script-title=zh:番禺求证 }}</ref> including that it may have referred to two local mountains.<ref>{{cite book |last=Xu |first=Jian |author-link=Xu Jian (Tang dynasty) |year=c. 720 |script-title=zh:初學記 |trans-title=Chuxueji, Records for Initial Studies |language=zh-Hant}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |script-title=zh:中国古今地名大词典 |year=2005 |location=Shanghai |publisher=Shanghai Cishu Press |page=2901}}</ref> The city has also sometimes been known as Guangzhou&nbsp;Fu or Guangfu after its status as the capital of a [[fu (administrative division)|prefecture]]. From this latter name, Guangzhou was known to medieval Persians such as [[Al-Masudi]] and [[Ibn Khordadbeh]]<ref>{{cite book |first=H. |last=Yule |title=Cathay and the Way Thither |volume=I |location=London |publisher=Hakluyt Society |year=1916}}</ref> as Khanfu ({{lang|ar|خانفو}}).<ref>{{cite book |first1=Kees |last1=Versteegh |author2=Mushira Eid |title=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics |volume=I |year=2005 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004144736 |pages=378 }}</ref> Under the [[Southern Han]], the city was renamed Xingwang Fu ({{lang-zh|labels=no|t=興王府}}).<ref>{{cite book |author=Ng Wing Chung |title=The Rise of Cantonese Opera |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=2015 |page=31  |isbn=9780252097096}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Chin |first=Angelina |title=Bound to Emancipate: Working Women and Urban Citizenship in Early Twentieth-Century China and Hong Kong |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2012 |page=202 |isbn=9781442215610}}</ref>

The [[Chinese abbreviation]] for Guangzhou is {{linktext|lang=zh|穗}}, pronounced {{Transliteration|yue|Seoi<sup>6</sup>}} in Cantonese and {{Transliteration|zh|Suì}} in Mandarin—although the abbreviation on car license plates, as with the rest of the province, is {{linktext|lang=zh-Hans|粤}}), after its nickname "City of Rice" ({{linktext|lang=zh|穗城}}). The city has long borne the nickname {{nowrap|City of Rams}} ({{linktext|lang=zh|羊城}}) or {{nowrap|City of the Five Rams}} ({{linktext|lang=zh|五羊城}}) from the five stones at the old [[Temple of the Five Immortals (Guangzhou)|Temple of the Five Immortals]] said to have been the sheep or goats ridden by the [[Taoism|Taoist]] [[culture hero]]es credited with introducing [[rice cultivation]] to the area around the time of the city's foundation.<ref>{{cite book |year=1834 |title=The Chinese Repository |volume=II |edition=2nd |publisher=Kraus }}</ref> The former name "City of the [[Taoist Immortal|Immortals]]" ({{linktext|lang=zh|仙城}}/{{lang|zh|五仙城}}) came from the same story. The more recent {{nowrap|City of Flowers}} ({{linktext|lang=zh|花城}}) is usually taken as a simple reference to the area's fine greenery.

The English name "Canton" derived from [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] {{lang|pt|Cidade de Cantão}},<ref>{{cite book |title=Santa Barbara Portuguese Studies |volume=I–II |year=1994 |page=256 |publisher=Jorge de Sena Center for Portuguese Studies}}</ref> a blend of [[dialects of Chinese|dialectal]] pronunciations of "Guangdong"<ref>{{cite book |title=T'ien Hsia Monthly |volume=VII |page=426 |year=1939 |publisher=Sun Yat-sen Institute}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary |edition=11th  |publisher=Merriam-Webster |isbn=9780877798095 |year=2004 }}</ref> (e.g., [[Cantonese]] ''Gwong2-dung1''). Although it originally and chiefly applied to the walled city, it was occasionally conflated with Guangdong by some authors. It was adopted as the [[Postal Map Romanization]] of Guangzhou, and remained the official name until its [[pinyin|name change]] to "Guangzhou". As an adjective, it is still used in describing the [[Cantonese people|people]], [[Cantonese language|language]], [[Cantonese cuisine|cuisine]] and [[Cantonese culture|culture]] of Guangzhou and the surrounding Liangguang region. The 19th-century name was "{{nowrap|Kwang-chow foo}}".{{sfnp|''EB''|1878|p=37}}