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 originWord TransliterationDetails Baizuo Mandarin The word is made up of two Chinese morphemes, bai (Chinese: 白; pinyin: bái, "white") and zuo (Chinese: 左; pinyin: zuǒ, "left"),lit. 'white left'. In China, this term is used to describe Western liberals, progressives, or "awakened" individuals, particularly those who focus on identity politics, immigration, and environmentalism while ignoring practical issues. Bok choy, pak choi, pok choi Cantonese A Chinese cabbage: lit. 'white vegetable' Brainwash Semantic borrowing A calque of Chinese , literally . The term was first used by the People's Volunteer Army during the Korean War, then picked up by the American media. It refers to 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 mainstream English after the Western media first used the term to describe the attitudes of POWs returning from the Korean War. Cha Cantonese tea, see 'tea' below Char siu Cantonese lit. fork roasted Cheongsam Cantonese lit. 'long clothes', popularly used during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Chin chin, chin-chin Mandarin lit. 'please', 'invite', an exclamation used to express good wishes before drinking—cf. Mandarin , Sino-Japanese . While chin-chin is an informal and somewhat dated term in British English, (for instance the TV sitcom As Time Goes By), entry for chin-chin., it is only occasionally used in American English. China Old Chinese or , (Baxter-Sagart) Via Latin , Persian , and Sanskrit ; ultimately either from the name of the or state Chop chop Cantonese lit. 'hurry', 'urgent' Chopsticks Pidgin from Chinese Pidgin English chop chop. Chop suey Cantonese 'mixed pieces' Chow Cantonese 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) lit. 'stir fried noodle', from when the first Chinese immigrants from Taishan came to the United States. Confucius Jesuit Latinization Latinization of 'Master Kong' Cumshaw Hokkien (Amoy) feeling gratitude Dim sum, Dim sim Cantonese lit. '(slightly) touches the heart, skimming the heart, igniting the heart', generally an idiom meaning 'dessert, pastry (accompanied by green tea), light refreshments' Fan-tan Cantonese 'take turns scattering' Feng shui Mandarin from and ; denotes a form of aesthetic balance, generally in rooms or objects Foo dog Mandarin Refers to the statues of lions that serve as guardians of Buddhist temples: combination of and 'dog', due to the statues resembling dogs Ginkgo Sino-Japanese From Japanese or Ginseng Hokkien From the name of the plant: some say the word came via the Japanese pronunciation, though now means 'carrot' in Japanese, while the modern word for 'ginseng' is . Go Sino-Japanese Japanese name for the Chinese board game, cf. Mandarin . Guanxi Mandarin lit. 'relationship', refers to such in Chinese culture—or refers to nepotism or cronyism in Chinese business and bureaucracy Gung-ho Mandarin Short for Gweilo Cantonese Literally 'ghost guy', used as an insult for Westerners. Without modifiers, it refers to white people and has a history of deprecatory use, though it has been argued that it now has a more neutral connotation. Gyoza Sino-Japanese From Chinese . In English, refers to the fried style of dumplings, as opposed to those boiled in water. Hanfu Mandarin lit. 'Han clothing': traditional Chinese clothes, includes several varieties for both men and women. Har gow Cantonese 'shrimp dumpling' Hoisin Cantonese 'seafood'JapanHokkien日本Ji̍-púnlit. 'sun's origin' Junzi Mandarin lit. 'person of high stature'; translatable as "respectable person" or simply "gentleman" Kanji Sino-Japanese Name for Chinese characters as used in Japanese, cf. Mandarin . Kaolin Mandarin lit. 'high mountain peak', the name of a village or suburb of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi, the site of a mine from which kaolin clay () was taken to make the fine porcelain produced in Jingde.(accessed on 10 March 2008) Keemun Cantonese tea from Qimen Ketchup Hokkien (Amoy) kê-chiap In the 17th century, the Chinese mixed a concoction of pickled fish and spices, called or in Amoynese, whose meaning refers to the brine of pickled fish or shellfish (, ). 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 cf. Mandarin Kowtow Cantonese 'knock head' Kumquat, cumquat Cantonese 'tangerine' Kung fu Cantonese lit. 'efforts', used in English to collectively describe Chinese martial arts Lo mein Cantonese 'scooped noodle' Longan Cantonese lit. 'dragon's eye' Long time no see Calque from Mandarin Loquat Cantonese Archaic name for the fruit Lychee Cantonese twigs of cat-tail like grass Mao-tai, moutai Mandarin 茅台酒 liquor from Maotai, Guizhou Mahjong Ultimately Northern Wu mo-tsian sparrow checkmate, short for 'hemp sparrow warfare', hemp sparrow being the term for house sparrow, and sparrow warfare (), a form of guerrilla tactics. Name derived from with the erhua suffix , which is a nasal element in Northern Wu (mo-tsiaq-ng > mo-tsian) Mu shu Mandarin 'wood shredded pork' Nankeen Mandarin The name for a city, sometimes used in English to refer to the durable, buff-colored cotton cloth originally produced there. No can do Semantic borrowing , ; Calque,Partridge, Eric, and Beale, Paul (2002). A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, p. 1386. Routledge. , . though also possibly a calque of Mandarin . Nunchuk Hokkien , Via Okinawan Japanese, lit. 'pair of joined sticks, double jointed sticks' Oolong Hokkien (Amoy) 'dark dragon' Pai gow Cantonese lit. 'row of nine', 'line of nine' Paper tiger Semantic borrowing Calque of an idiom referring to a thing or person whose claims to be threatening or powerful are paper-thin, as they are actually ineffectual and unable to withstand challenge. Became known internationally due to its use by Mao Zedong to refer to his political opponents, particularly the American government. Pekin Mandarin From an older romanization of Beijing. A distinction used to be made between "sharp" (ie. dentialveolar) and "blunt" (ie. alveolo-palatal) sibilants before high front vowels; the latter was conventionally spelt with velar consonants (k, g). Pidgin Chinese Pidgin Englishpidgin From the CPE term for business, ie. "business language" (English) Pinyin Mandarin 'put together sounds', 'spelled-out sounds' Pekoe Hokkien (Amoy) 'white downy hair' Pongee Cantonese lit. 'our own loom', 'homespun', a kind of thin silk Pu'er, puerh Mandarin Named after a city Qi, ch'i Mandarin Energy of an object or person, lit. 'air', 'spirit'. Qipao Mandarin Another name for Cheongsam. Ramen Sino-Japanese cf. Mandarin Rickshaw Sino-Japanese Japanese neologism, (c. 1887) composed of semantic elements , and . Sampan Cantonese Scared to loseSemantic borrowing from Hokkien驚輸 / 惊输kiaⁿ-su"Scared to lose" appears in several song names and lyrics in English. It comes from the Hokkien kiaⁿ-su which literally means "scared to lose". Shanghai Mandarin 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 deceitfully acquiring sailors for voyages to Shanghai Shantung Mandarin The Wade-Giles romanization of the province's name, used in English to refer to a wild silk fabric, usually undyed. Shaolin Mandarin Shar Pei Cantonese 'sand skin' Shih Tzu Mandarin lit. 'lion child dog', Chinese lion. Spelt using the Wade-Giles romanization. Shogun Sino-Japanese lit. 'military general', the full Japanese title was Siu mai Cantonese pork dumplings, lit. 'to cook and sell' Sifu Cantonese 'master' Souchong Cantonese 'small kind of tea' Soy Satsuma Sino-Japanese From Satsuma Japanese, the variety spoken in and around Kagoshima. Cf. Mandarin , Tokyo Japanese Struggle session Semantic calque from Mandarin According to Lin Yutang, the expression comes from and , so the whole expression conveys the message of 'inciting spirited judgment and fighting'. It was often shortened to .