Sinoxenic languages are languages other than Chinese dialects which have at one point adopted Chinese characters, or sinographs. The three national Sinoxenic languages are Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese; Vietnamese no longer uses sinographs but, like Japanese and Korean, retains a large number of Chinese loanwords from when it did. Several ethnic minorities in China, such as the Zhuang and the Bai, have also adopted Chinese characters for their use. The term does not imply any genealogical affiliation with Chinese. Of the languages listed above, only Bai is related to Chinese.
