Kuomintang (noun): the Chinese Nationalist Party, founded in 1919, which governed Taiwan after 1949 and previously led the Republic of China. The term denotes a political party with historical roots in early republican China and a long-standing role in cross-strait politics. The word is used in scholarly, political, and historical discussions and is often shortened as KMT.
US: rhotic-ish? full /ɹ/ is not relevant; US speakers keep /r/ absent here; ensure /ˈkwoʊ/ or /ˈkjʊə/ initial; UK/AU: may have more rounded /juːə/ sequence and less rhoticity; main vowel differences: US tends to preserve /oʊ/; UK may glide more with /juːə/; AU variants align with UK but with distinct vowel quality shifts. IPA references: US /ˌkuː.oʊˈmɪn.tæŋ/, UK /ˌkjuːəʊˈmɪnˌtæŋ/, AU /ˌkjʊəˈmɪnˌtæŋ/.
"The Kuomintang led the retreat to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War."
"Scholars debated the Kuomintang's policies toward modernization in the early 20th century."
"The KMT has undergone reforms since its exile to Taiwan."
"Researchers study how the Kuomintang influenced regional security dynamics."
Kuomintang is a transliteration of the Mandarin name Zhongguomindang (中國國民黨). Zhongguo (中國) means China; guo (國) means country or nation; mindang (民黨) combines min (people) and dang (party). The term arose in the early 20th century as Sun Yat-sen’s nationalist movement organized against imperial rule. In Mandarin, the party is abbreviated as Guomindang and commonly romanized as Kuomintang in older Western texts; the alternative spelling Guomindang is still seen. The English source traditional spelling “Kuomintang” reflects Wade-Giles influence (Kuo-min-tang) and was widely used in Western scholarship during the mid-20th century. First known English usage dates to the 1920s in western political reporting, expanding through Cold War-era scholarship to describe the Chinese Nationalist forces. The name carries political and historical associations with the Republic of China's governance, military campaigns, and exile to Taiwan, and thus evokes both revolutionary heritage and long-standing cross-strait policy debates.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Kuomintang" and can often be used interchangeably.
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Words that rhyme with "Kuomintang"
-and sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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/ˌkuː.oʊˈmɪn.tæŋ/ (US) or /ˌkjuːəʊˈmɪn.tæŋ/ (UK); stress on the third syllable: Kuo-mi-タン(g) with final -tang. Start with a strong /kuː/ or /kjuːə/, then /ˈmɪn/, and end with /tæŋ/. Keep the /t/ light and avoid a heavy final -g. You can listen to native pronunciations on Forvo or YouGlish to compare regional variations.
Common errors: 1) misplacing stress, saying Ku-o-MIN-tang with wrong emphasis; 2) reducing syllables, e.g., /ˈkuːmɪnˌtæŋ/ missing the second vowel; 3) mispronouncing the final -tang as -tang-uh or adding an extra syllable. Correction: place primary stress on the third syllable and maintain /æŋ/ for the ending; pronounce /ˈmɪn/ clearly; keep /ːoʊ/ in the initial cluster if you use /kuː.oʊ/ or /kjuːə/ for the UK variant. Listening practice helps align rhythm.
US: /ˌkuːˌoʊˈmɪnˌtæŋ/ with clear /oʊ/ and reduced /ə/ in some speakers. UK: /ˌkjuːəʊˈmɪnˌtæŋ/ with /juːəʊ/ cluster; AU: /ˌkjʊəˈmɪnˌtæŋ/ similar to UK, but with Australian vowel qualities, often less rhotic emphasis and more fronted vowels. All share final -tang; the main differences are initial vowel sequence and rhoticity variation, and the middle /ɪ/ vs /ɪə/ tendencies in rapid speech.
Key challenges: multiple syllables with a transferred /oʊ/ or /juə/ sequence in the initial cluster; maintaining distinct /m/ and /n/ boundaries in the middle syllable; and a crisp final /tæŋ/ that can drift to /tæŋɡ/ or /tæŋ/ in quick speech. Practice by isolating /kuː.oʊ/ or /kjuːə/, then /ˈmɪn/, then /tæŋ/ and linking without adding vowels in the middle.
Note the contrastive consonants: the initial velar /k/ or /k/ followed by the close-mid vowel sequence /uː/ or /juːə/ and the alveolar nasal /n/ before the final /tæŋ/ fricative cluster; the final /tæŋ/ requires a clean stop and nasal blend to avoid an extra syllable. In careful speech, the /m/ is a light bilabial with slight bilabial closure, and the /t/ is unreleased, giving a crisp ending.
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