Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Chinese ·1940s
Gung-ho
from gōnghé (Mandarin — "work together")
- Meaning
- The slogan of the Chinese Industrial Co-operatives, abbreviated in the 1930s.
- Source word
- gōnghé (Mandarin — "work together")
- Route into English
- US Marine Raiders in WWII used it as a unit motto; post-war it loosened to mean "enthusiastic, over-eager."
- Arrived
- 1940s
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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