Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Chinese ·1880s
Chop suey
from 雜碎 (zá suì)
- Meaning
- A Chinese-American stir-fry of meat, vegetables, and rice.
- Source word
- 雜碎 (zá suì)
- Route into English
- Toisanese/Cantonese *zaap seui* ("miscellaneous pieces") → English via 19th-century Chinese-American cooks improvising for Western palates. The dish barely exists in China.
- Arrived
- 1880s
From Chinese
Trade English from the South China Sea ports (especially Hokkien-speaking Xiamen and Canton) seeded the early borrowings; 20th-century diplomacy and military contact added the rest.
English borrows.
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