A Mandarin was a bureaucrat in imperial China. The term originates from the Portuguese word mandarim, meaning "minister" or "counselor," used to translate the Chinese word guan (). The term is also used to refer to the northern spoken variety of Chinese because it was the language used among officials during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The wardrobe of a mandarin during the Qing Dynasty involved Manchu official headwear and a mandarin square. Mandarins lived in yamen.