Former name for China, especially northern China.
The word is derived from Khitay, the name of a seminomadic people who dominated northern China in the 10th–12th century. By the time of Genghis Khan , the Mongols had begun referring to northern China as Kitai (still the Russian word for China). The name may have been introduced to Europe by returning Franciscan friars с 1254, but it was Marco Polo 's Travels 50 years later that put Cathay's image before the European public.