Mandarin has a number of meanings:

• An Imperial Chinese bureaucrat, see mandarin (China), and in the UK, by analogy, any government bureaucrat.
• The Mandarin dialects of spoken Chinese, or more specifically, its standardized dialect, Standard Mandarin.
• The Mandarin is a supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe, one of the major archenemies of Iron Man.
• The Mandarin, a hotel in Hong Kong, now known as the Mandarin Oriental, and the founding member of the Mandarin Oriental hotel group, a part of Jardines. It is the location of the famous Captains Bar.
• The duck, Mandarin duck, Aix galericulata.
• The fish, Mandarin fish, Siniperca chuatsi.
• The fruit mandarin orange, Citrus reticulata.

Most English dictionaries state that the etymology of the Mandarin comes from Portuguese mandarim, from Malay menteri, from Sanskrit mantrin counselor, from mantra counsel. Other source states that it was based on the Chinese word "Man Da Ren" (滿大人) or Manchu officer (from government).