List of English words of Chinese origin

Words of Chinese origin have entered European languages, including English. Most of these were direct loanwords from various varieties of Chinese. However, Chinese words have also entered indirectly via other languages, particularly Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese, that have all used Chinese characters at some point and contain a large number of Chinese loanwords.

Sources

English words of Chinese origin usually have different characteristics, depending on precisely how the words encountered the West. Despite the increasingly widespread use of Standard Chinese—based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin—among Chinese people, English words based on Mandarin are comparatively few.

Chinese vocabulary has spread to the West by means such as:

• via missionaries who were living in China. These have heavy Latin influence due to Portuguese and Spanish missionaries.
• via sinologists who lived in China. These have heavy French influence due to the long history of French sinology.
• via the maritime trade route, e.g. tea, Amoy, cumshaw etc. Heavily influenced by the Min Nan Amoy dialect in southern seaports.
• via the early immigrants to the American West during gold rush era, e.g. chop suey. Heavily influenced by the Toisan dialect.
• via the multi-national colonization of Shanghai. Influenced by many European countries, as well as Japan.
• via the British colonization of Hong Kong, e.g. cheongsam. Heavily influenced by Cantonese.
• via modern international communication, especially after the 1970s when the People's Republic of China reduced up travel restrictions, allowing emigration to various countries, e.g. wushu, feng shui. Heavily influenced by Mandarin.
• via Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese, often Sino-Xenic words, These languages historically borrowed large swaths of Chinese vocabulary, and wrote Chinese and their native language in Chinese characters. The pronunciation of such loanwords is not based directly on Chinese, but on the local pronunciation of Chinese loanwords in these languages, known as Sino-Japanese, Sino-Korean, and Sino-Vietnamese. In addition, the individual characters were extensively used as building blocks for local neologisms with no semantic counterpart in the original Chinese, resulting in words whose relationship to the Chinese language is similar to the relationship between new Latinate words—particularly those that form a large part of the international scientific vocabulary—and Latin. Such words are excluded from the list, as they sound pretty similar to their English renderings.

Though all these following terms originated from China, the spelling of the English words depends on the direct point of contact and borrowing, as well as which transliteration scheme is typically used.

Table

English	Direct origin	Word	Transliteration	Details
Bok choy	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	A Chinese cabbage: lit. 'white vegetable'
Brainwash	Semantic borrowing	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	A calque of Chinese Template:Zhi, consisting of the characters Template:Zhi and Template:Zhi. A term first used by the People's Volunteer Army during the Korean War, then picked up by the American media. It may refer to a forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up basic political, social, or religious beliefs and attitudes and to accept contrasting regimented ideas; or persuasion by propaganda or salesmanship. The term "brainwashing" came into the mainstream English language after Western media sources first utilized the term to describe the attitudes of POWs returning from the Korean War.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Cha	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	tea, see 'tea' below
Char siu	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	lit. fork roasted
Cheongsam	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	lit. 'long clothes', popularly used during the 19th and early 20th centuries
Chin chin, chin-chin	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	lit. 'please', 'invite', an exclamation used to express good wishes before drinking—cf. Mandarin Template:Zhi, Sino-Japanese Template:Transliteration. While occasionally used in American English, chin-chin is an informal and outdated British English usage, for instance, the TV sitcom As Time Goes By.<ref>Template:Usurped entry for chin-chin.</ref>
China	Mandarin	Template:Zhi or Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	lang}}, Persian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Transliteration, and Sanskrit {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Transliteration; ultimately either from the name of the Template:Zhi or Template:Zhi state
Chop chop	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	lit. 'hurry', 'urgent'<ref name=patridge/>
Chopsticks	Pidgin	Template:Zhi	Template:Transliteration	from Chinese Pidgin English chop chop.
Chop suey	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	'mixed pieces'
Chow	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	From meaning 'cook', perhaps based on Cantonese. lit. 'to stir fry'
Chow chow	Cantonese			any of a breed of heavy-coated blocky dogs of Chinese origin
Chow mein	Cantonese (Taishanese)	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	lit. 'stir fried noodle', from initial Chinese immigrants from Taishan came to the United States
Confucius	Jesuit Latinization	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Latinization of 'Master Kong'
Cumshaw	Hokkien (Amoy)	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	feeling gratitude
Dim sum, Dim sim	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	lit. '(slightly) touches the heart, skimming the heart, igniting the heart', generally an idiom meaning 'desserts, pastry (accomponied to green tea), light refreshments'
Fan-tan	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	'take turns scattering'
Feng shui	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	from Template:Zhi and Template:Zhi, denotes some form of aesthetic balance, generally in rooms or objects
Foo dog	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Refers to the statues of lions that serve as guardians of Buddhist temples: combination of Template:Zhi and 'dog', due to the statues resembling dogs
Ginkgo	Sino-Japanese	lang}}	Template:Transliteration	From Japanese Template:Transliteration or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
Ginseng	Hokkien	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	lang}} now means 'carrot' in Japanese, while the modern word for 'ginseng' is Template:Langx.
Go	Sino-Japanese	lang}}	Template:Transliteration	Japanese name for the Chinese board game, cf. Mandarin Template:Zhi.
Guanxi	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	lit. 'relationship', refers to such in Chinese culture—occasionally a reference to nepotism or cronyism in Chinese business and bureaucracy
Gung-ho	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Short for Template:Zhi
Gweilo	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Literally 'ghost guy', used as a common slur for Westerners. Absent modifiers, it refers to white people and has a history of deprecatory and pejorative use, though it has been argued that it has since acquired a more neutral connotation.
Gyoza	Sino-Japanese	lang}}	Template:Transliteration	From Chinese Template:Zhi. In English, refers to the fried dumpling style, as opposed to the style boiled in water.
Hanfu	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	lit. 'Han clothing': traditional Chinese clothes, includes several varieties for both men and women.
Har gow	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	'shrimp dumpling'
Hoisin	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	'seafood'
Junzi	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	lit. 'person of high stature'; translatable as "respectable person" or simply "gentleman"
Kanji	Sino-Japanese	lang}}	Template:Transliteration	Name for Chinese characters within Japanese, cf. Mandarin Template:Zhi.
Kaolin	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	lit. 'high mountain peak', the name of a village or suburb of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi, the site of a mine from which kaolin clay (Template:Zhi) was taken to make the fine porcelain produced in Jingde.<ref>(accessed on 10 March 2008) Template:Webarchive</ref>
Keemun	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	tea from Qimen
Ketchup	Hokkien (Amoy)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Template:Zhi		In the 17th century, the Chinese mixed a concoction of pickled fish and spices, called Template:Zhi or Template:Zhi in the Amoy dialect, whose meaning refers to(Template:Zhi) the brine of pickled fish or shellfish (Template:Zhi, Template:Zhi). By the early 18th century, the sauce had made it to the Malay peninsula, where it was later discovered by English explorers. That word then gradually evolved into the English word "ketchup", and was taken to the American colonies by English settlers.
Koan	Sino-Japanese	lang}}	Template:Transliteration	cf. Mandarin Template:Zhi
Kowtow	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	'knock head'
Kumquat, cumquat	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	'tangerine'
Kung fu	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	lit. 'efforts', used in English to collectively describe Chinese martial arts
Lo mein	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	'scooped noodle'
Longan	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	lit. 'dragon's eye'
Long time no see	Semantic borrowing from Mandarin<ref name=patridge/>	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Template:N/a
Loquat	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Archaic name for the fruit
Lychee	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	twigs of cat-tail like grass
Mao-tai, moutai	Mandarin	茅台酒	Template:Zhi	liquor from Maotai, Guizhou
Mahjong	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	sparrow checkmate, short for 'hemp sparrow warfare, hemp sparrow being the term for house sparrow, and sparrow warfare (麻雀戰, 麻雀战) a form of guerilla warfare tactics.
Monsoon	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	'full of water'
Mu shu	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	'wood shredded pork'
Nankeen	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	The name for city, sometimes used in English to refer to the durable, buff-colored cotton cloth originally produced there
Template:Linktext	Semantic borrowing	Template:Zhi Template:Small, Template:Zhi Template:Small	Template:Zhi; Template:Zhi	Calque,<ref name=patridge>Partridge, Eric, and Beale, Paul (2002). A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, p. 1386. Routledge. Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN.</ref> though also possibly a calque of Mandarin Template:Zhi.
Nunchuk	Hokkien (Taiwan, Fujian)	Template:Zhi, Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Via Okinawan Japanese, lit. 'pair of joined sticks, double jointed sticks'
Oolong	Hokkien (Amoy)	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	'dark dragon'
Pai gow	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	lit. 'row of nine', 'line of nine'
Paper tiger	Semantic borrowing	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Calque of an idiom referring to something or someone whose claims or appearances of threat or power are paper-thin, actually being ineffectual and unable to withstand challenge. Became well known internationally by its use by Mao Zedong to refer to his political opponents, particularly the American government.
Pekin	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	From an older romanization of the Cantonese reading of Beijing
Pidgin	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	lit. 'naughty respect language, case-hardened ('thick-skinned') respect language'
Pinyin	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	'put together sounds', 'spelled-out sounds'
Pekoe	Hokkien (Amoy)	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	'white downy hair'
Pongee	Cantonese	Template:Zhi		lit. 'our own loom', 'homespun', a kind of thin silk
Pu'er, puerh	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Named after a city
Qi, ch'i	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Energy of an object or person, lit. 'air', 'spirit'.Template:Efn
Qipao	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Template:N/a
Ramen	Sino-Japanese	lang}}	Template:Transliteration	cf. Mandarin Template:Zhi
Rickshaw	Sino-Japanese	lang}}	Template:Zhi	Japanese neologism, Template:Transliteration (c. 1887) composed of semantic elements Template:Zhi, Template:Zhi and Template:Zhi.
Sampan	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Template:N/a
Shanghai	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	The city name, used in English as a verb meaning 'to put someone aboard a ship by trickery or intoxication', or generally 'to put someone in a bad situation by trickery'. From an old practice of deceitful acquiring sailors for voyages to Shanghai
Shantung	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	The Wade-Giles romanization of the province's name, used in English to refer to a wild silk fabric, usually undyed.
Shaolin	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Template:N/a
Shar pei	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	'sand skin'
Shih tzu	Taiwanese Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	lit. 'lion child dog', Chinese lion
Shogun	Sino-Japanese	Template:Zhi	Template:Transliteration	lit. 'military general', the full Japanese title was Template:Langx
Siu mai	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	pork dumplings, lit. 'to cook and sell'
Sifu	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	'master'
Souchong	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	'small kind of tea
Soy	Sino-Japanese	lang}}	Template:Transliteration	cf. Mandarin Template:Lang-zh
Struggle session	Semantic calque from Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	According to Lin Yutang, the expression comes from Template:Zhi and Template:Zhi, so the whole expression conveys the message of 'inciting spirited judgment and fighting'. It was often shortened to Template:Zhi.Template:Citation needed The term refers to a phenomenon especially prevalent during the Cultural Revolution, where public sessions were ostensibly held for the benefit the target, intending to eliminate counterrevolutionary, reactionary thinking.Template:Citation needed
Tai chi	Mandarin	太極	Template:Zhi	From the Wade-Giles romanization of taijiquan (i.e., "tTemplate:Wg-aposai chi chTemplate:Wg-aposüan"), meaning 'great ultimate boxing'
Tai-pan	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	equivalent to "big shot"
Tangram	Compound word	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	from Tang + English gram
Tao, Dao	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	'way', path'
Tea	Hokkien	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	In most European languages, where the word resembles te, tea generally originated in the Amoy port. The other common word for tea worldwide, usually in places where tea generally came via the Silk Road, derives from the Mandarin pronunciation with the same Old Chinese etymology.
Tofu	Sino-Japanese	lang}}	Template:Transliteration	cf. Mandarin Template:Zhi
Tong	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Template:N/a
Tung oil	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Template:N/a
Tycoon	Sino-Japanese	Template:Zhi	Template:Transliteration	'great nobleman'
Typhoon	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Cantonese, or Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	lit. 'wind coming from Taiwan', usually Template:Zhi in contemperary Taiwanese, cf. Cantonese Template:Zhi
Wok	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Template:N/a
Wonton	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	homophone in Cantonese with the original Template:Zhi, cf. Mandarin Template:Zhi, lit. 'cloud swallow', describing its shape
Wushu	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Template:N/a
Wuxia	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Template:N/a
Yamen	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	'court'
Yen	Cantonese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Craving, usually in reference to opium addition, lit. 'addiction'
Yen	Sino-Japanese	lang}}	Template:Transliteration	cf. Mandarin Template:Zhi, lit. 'round', 'name of currency unit'
Yin yang	Mandarin	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi meaning 'feminine', 'dark' and Template:Zhi meaning 'masculine', 'bright'
Yuanfen	Mandarin, Vietnamese	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	lit. 'fateful coincidence'—similar conceptually to karma, but interactive instead of individualized, predestination without divine implications
Zen	Sino-Japanese	lang}}	Template:Transliteration	cf. Mandarin Template:Zhi, originally from Sanskrit {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Transliteration, Pali {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Transliteration.

See also

• List of loanwords in Chinese
• List of Spanish words of Chinese origin
• Chinese Pidgin English
  • Chinglish
  • Singlish

External links

• Chinese Loanwords
• Template:Usurped