Abstract:

There were many names of steam engines in Chinese in the middle and late 19th century,but most of these names were not used for a long time,and some were short-lived. The Chinese term “zhengqiji”(steam engine)is firstly recorded in William Alexander Parsons Martin’s Zhongxi wenjian lu(Scientific Magazine)in 1875.The term comes from Japanese,but it is no longer useful in Japan. However,the term has been used in China,and has become the standard term refer to this machine.

Key words: steam, engine