Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An idyllic, beautiful place.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun The summer capital of Kublai Khan's empire

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Xanadu, archaic English name for Kublai Khan's summer capital in Inner Mongolia (described in the poem “Kubla Khan” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge as a place of great marvels), ultimately from early Mandarin ʂaŋ` tū (equivalent to Modern Mandarin Shàngdū : shàng, upper + , capital).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Mandarin 上都 (Shàngdū).

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