筷子

Mandarin

simpl. and trad.
筷子

Etymology

The Old Chinese words for "chopsticks" were 箸/筯/櫡 (zhù, OC *das), 梜 (jiā, OC *keːb) /挾提, which are still used in Min Nan (Taiwanese: tī, tɨ), Korean 젓가락 (jeotgarak) and Vietnamese đũa. Starting from the Ming Dynasty, the change to "筷子" occurred in Mandarin, Wu and some Cantonese dialects. The 15th century book "Shuyuan Miscellanies" (《菽園雜記》) said of the change: "As the mariners feared 住 (zhù, 'to stay') […], they call 箸 ('chopsticks') 快兒 ('quick')." The bamboo radical (竹) was later added to 快, to form 筷.

Pronunciation

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Noun

筷子 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin kuàizi)

1. chopsticks

Synonyms

• 筷兒 (kuàir)
• 箸 (zhù)

See also

• (Japanese) 箸