Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Chinese ·1950s
Wok
from wohk
- Meaning
- A rounded cooking pan for stir-frying.
- Source word
- wohk
- Route into English
- Cantonese 鑊 *wohk* → English via mid-20th-century Chinese-American restaurant vocabulary. The word spread faster than the cookware itself to Western kitchens.
- Arrived
- 1950s
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.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.