明清官话，明清时期官僚通用语，因在官场通用而得名。明朝灭元，“壹以中原雅音为正”，以南京音为基础音系，南京官话为国家标准语音。明朝北京宫廷人员，需要讲“纯粹的南京话”。到了清朝中期，北京官话形成，影响逐渐扩大。清末卢戆章创制中国切音新字，仍然倡议以南京话为“各省之正音”，可见南京官话在清末仍然有很大的影响。明朝官话与清代官话不同，明朝官话贴近旧韵，而清代官话则变化较大。到了民国，北京官话被确定为国语，以后在中国大陆改称普通话。

Mandarin (simplified Chinese:官话; traditional Chinese:官话; pinyin:Guānhuà; literally: "official speech") was the common spoken language of administration of the Chinese empire during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It arose as a practical measure, to circumvent the mutual unintelligibility of the varieties of Chinese spoken in different parts of China. Knowledge of this language was thus essential for an official career, but it was never formally defined. The language was a koiné based on Mandarin dialects, initially those spoken around Nanjing but later switching to Beijing, and developed into Standard Chinese in the 20th century.