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chopstick

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English

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Chopsticks

Etymology

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Apparently a compound of chop + stick, but the sense of the first element is not clear. The eating utensil sense (attested since 1637) is presumably a transfer of sense from the earlier fishing tackle sense (attested from 1615), based on physical resemblance.

The common derivation from Chinese Pidgin English chop(-chop) (“quick”), a supposed calque from Chinese 筷子 (kuàizi, “chopstick”), derived from 快 (kuài, “quick”),[1] is chronologically impossible as Chinese Pidgin English did not come into existence until the 18th century.[2]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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chopstick (plural chopsticks)

  2. (usually in the plural) An East Asian eating utensil usually used as a pair and held in one hand to grip pieces of food or occasionally to mix liquids or scoop up small pieces of food. The utensil is a stick, usually made of wood and measuring approximately 23cm (10 inches) in length.
    • 1637, Peter Mundy, Diary; in Richard Carnac Temple, editor, The English Factory in Japan, 1613-1623: Volume I, Cambridge: The Hakluyt Society, 1919, page 194:
      Then broughtt they us some henne cutt in small peeces and Fresh porcke Don in like Manner, giving us Choppsticks to eatt our Meat, butt wee knew not how to use them, soe imployed our Fingers. [...] Having before mentioned Chopstickes, I will Describe a ordinary Fellow, as boatmen, etts., how hee eateth / his meat, which is commonly on the ground or Decke. Hee taketh the stickes (which are aboutt a foote longe) beetweene his Fingers and with them hee taketh uppe his Meat, beeing first cut smalle, as saltporcke, Fish, etts., with which they relish their Rice (it beeing their common Foode). I say first taking upp a bitt of the Meatte, hee presently applies to his Mouth a smalle procelane with sodden Rice. Hee thrusts, Crammes and stuffes it full of the said Rice with the Chopsticks in exceedingly hasty Manner untill it will hold No more.
    • 1697, William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World, London: James Knapton, page 85:
      All the Tonquineses keep many of these Sticks in their Houses, as well for their own use, as to entertain Strangers at meals: they are as ordinarily placed at the Table here, as Knives, Forks, and Spoons are in England: and a man that cannot dextrously handle these instruments, makes but an odd figure at their Tables. The richer sort of people, especially the Mandarins, have them tipt with Silver. In China also these things are constantly used: they are called by the English Seamen Chopsticks.
    • 1761, Hau Kiou Choaan, or, The Pleasing History, London: R. and J. Dodson, page 192:
      These Sticks are called by the Chinese Quay-tse, and by some of our Voyagers Chopsticks, which they manage so dexterously that they can take up a grain of rice with them.
    • 1850, Walter Henry Medhurst, A Glance at the Interior of China, Obtained During a journey through the Silk and Green Tea Districts, London: John Snow, page 11:
      When not used, the chopsticks must be laid on the table, side by side, exactly pointing away from the individual[.]
    • 1906 January, R. T. Booth, “Medical and Surgical Notes”, in China Medical Missionary Journal‎[1], volume XX, number 1, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 75:
      It took three months’ massage twice a day for ten minutes to bring the muscles to a good condition, and the boy left the hospital able to lift weights as well as to use his chop-sticks.
    • 1920 January 11, The Sun, Sydney, page 5, column 4:
      The main feature was large plates of meat cut up in small pieces, well-cooked and very nice, so I waded into it with chop-sticks, and had quite a good meal.
    • 1950 February 18, The Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate, NSW, page 1, column 3:
      The guests, including Australians, ate with chopsticks and drank beer, spirits or Chinese tea from rice bowls.
  3. (ethnic slur) An Asian person.
    • 1832 April 11, The Launceston Advertiser, Tasmania, page 119, column 2:
      When was in Hampshire the other day, a chop-stick, who came to my lodging to talk to me about the mode of harvesting and preserving the corn, and who soon diverged into a talk about the Reform Bill, said, "And this cholera morbus, sir, don't you think it's a sort of a shoshoy to frighten us out of the Reform?"
    • 1852 March 13, The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, NSW, page 4, column 3:
      Every horse you possess having no action, or which a day's journey would knock up, (to be found in lots far more numerous than the Chinamen as yet,) ought to be turned out to fatten; when plump, take the animal into the nearest station, occupied by these chopsticks.
    • 2013, Angelina Martinez, Falling In Love, Bloomington: Author House, page 50:
      "How cool is that, Chong? Wolverine is in the house." "Wolver this, you chopstick."
  4. (obsolete, fishing) A long straight stick forming part of various fishing tackle arrangements.
    • 1615 October 23, Richard Wickham, letter; in Anthony Farrington, editor, The English Factory in Japan, 1613-1623: Volume I, London: The British Library, 1991, page 330:
      I pray pardon me for that Capt' Adams' hast to goe downe causeth me to be breefer then I would, wishing you to luffe as fast as you can in the heigh of hogg faces, for these climates of Meaco yeald nothinge but shirrow & chopp-stickes.
    • 1726, Nathan Bailey, Dictionarium Rusticum, Urbanicum and Botanicum, London: James and John Knapton et al., page s.v. Iceland:
      The Fisherman has a Line of 90 Fathom long, or more, with a Lead at the end of it called a Deep-sea-lead, of about 6 or 7 pounds weight, to sink it; above which is a cross-stick, termed a Chop-stick, with 2 Lines and Hooks at them, with Baits[.]
    • 1862, W.B. Lord, Sea Fish and How to Catch Them, London: Bradbury, Agnew and Co., page 44:
      The spreader is passed through the hole in the sinker, c, until its centre is reached, when the edges of the holes must be closed in tightly with a small hammer, which will, if properly done, retain the spreader securely in its place. This arrangement is generally known amongst fishermen as a set of "chop-sticks."
    • 1905, P. L. Haslope, Practical Sea-fishing: A Handbook for Sea Anglers, London: L. Upcott Gill, page 30:
      One great advantage of this rig is that the lead and its appendage are always hauled up endways, thus offering less opposition to the water than those fitted with the different chop-sticks.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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chopstick (third-person singular simple present chopsticks, present participle chopsticking, simple past and past participle chopsticked)

  1. (transitive, intransitive, informal) To pick up (food), or eat, using chopsticks, or as with chopsticks.
    • 1895, Douglas Sladen, The Japs at Home, London: Ward, Lock & Co., page 101:
      Then, holding his plate close to his mouth, he chopsticked it in with his fork, and, with tremendous gusto, called for more.
    • 1915 November 13, The Southern Churchman, Richmond, Va., page 14, column 1:
      For a while I chopsticked in silence. Gathering up loose grains of rice between the points of two small sticks is a job requiring absolute quiet and concentration.
    • 1941 February 1, The Wireless Weekly, Sydney, page 4, column 3:
      Though the fingers weakened and Ernest almost starved between bites, the old Walsh pride stood firm and refused to allow him to admit that he’d made a mistake and would rather use a fork. An hour later, when the others left, Ernest was still painstakingly chopsticking.
    • 1945, George Hogg, I See A New China, London: Victor Gollancz, page 17:
      She chopsticked her millet and beans from the same cans as people she knew were consumptive[.]

References

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  1. ^ The Pidgin English derivation was first put forward by Handley Moule and presented in Yule and Burnell's Hobson-Jobson (1886), page 162/1: (The Chinese name of the article is ‘kwai-tsz,’ ‘speedy-ones.’ “Possibly the inventor of the present word, hearing that the Chinese name had this meaning, and accustomed to the phrase chop-chop for ‘speedily,’ used chop as a translation” (Bishop Moule).) Thence adopted by the Oxford English Dictionary (in 1893), and so passing down to most English language dictionaries from the late 19th century onwards.
  2. ^ The chronological impossibility of the Pidgin English derivation was first noted by Kingsley Bolton in his Chinese English: A Sociolinguistic History (2003), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, page 139.

See also

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