ketchup

See also: Ketchup and kétchup

English

A bottle of tomato ketchup.

A bottle of mushroom ketchup.

Alternative forms

• catsup
• catchup (obsolete)
• katjap, katsup, kechap (archaic)
• ketsup (dated)

Etymology

Uncertain, but probably ultimately from Hokkien 膎汁 (kê-chiap, “fish sauce”) via Malay kicap, though the precise path is unclear – there are related words in various Chinese languages, and it may have entered English directly from Hokkien Chinese. Cognate to Indonesian kecap, ketjap (“soy sauce”). Various other theories exist – see Ketchup: Etymology for extended discussion.

First appeared in English in the late 17th century in reference to a Southeast Asian sauce encountered by British traders and sailors. The Oxford English Dictionary notes that it was commonly used in the 18th century to refer to a variety of similar sauces with varying ingredients—"anchovies, mushrooms, walnuts, and oysters being particularly popular"—but by the late 19th century the current tomato ketchup became the most popular form.

Catsup (earlier catchup) is an alternative Anglicization, still in use in the U.S.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɛt͡ʃ.əp/, /ˈkɛt͡ʃ.ʌp/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (Canada)

  (file)

• Homophone: catch-up (one pronunciation)

Noun

ketchup (countable and uncountable, plural ketchups)

1. (uncountable, chiefly US, Canada, UK) Ellipsis of tomato ketchup. A tomato-vinegar-based sauce, sometimes containing spices, onion or garlic, and (especially in the US) sweeteners.

   Synonym: tomato catsup

   Hypernyms: tomato sauce, red ketchup, red catsup

   tomato ketchup

   This diner serves ketchup in red bottles, and mustard in yellow ones.

2. (countable, now rare) Such a sauce more generally (not necessarily based on tomatoes, but with mushrooms, fish, etc.). This is the older meaning.

   Hyponyms: tomato ketchup, tomato catsup, fruit ketchup, fruit catsup, corn ketchup, corn catsup, green ketchup, green catsup, yellow ketchup, yellow catsup

   • 1883, Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery, page lxxxiii:

     The bottles, however, were port bottles, but contained mushroom ketchup; […]

   • 2003, Inns and Bed and Breakfasts in Quebec 2003, Ulysses Travel Guides, page 46:

     To accompany meat, we prepare fruit ketchups and rhubarb chutney.

Usage notes

The spelling ketchup became significantly preferred in the United States due to the popularity of the Heinz brand, which shortly after its introduction in 1876 switched from catsup to this spelling to distinguish itself from competitors. Other major brands, such as Hunt, subsequently followed, with Del Monte only switching to ketchup in 1988.

This condiment is more commonly and somewhat ambiguously called tomato sauce outside of North America and the United Kingdom. In South Africa, the word ketchup is not generally understood.

Hypernyms

• condiment
• sauce
• table condiment
• table sauce

 

Coordinate terms

common Chinese condiment sauces

• cherry sauce
• chili sauce
• fish sauce
• hoisin sauce
• oyster flavor sauce
• plum sauce
• soy sauce
• sweet and sour sauce
• sweet chili sauce
• tree sauce

 

condiments commonly paired with tomato ketchup

• black pepper
• chili sauce
• chowchow
• cucumber relish
• green relish
• ground black pepper
• ground pepper
• malt vinegar
• mayonnaise
• mustard
• mustard sauce
• pepper
• prepared mustard
• prepared mustard sauce
• prepared yellow mustard
• prepared yellow mustard sauce
• relish
• salt
• siracha
• sweet green relish
• sweet relish
• table salt
• vinegar
• white vinegar
• yellow mustard
• yellow mustard sauce

 

Derived terms

• banana ketchup
• curry ketchup
• ketchuppy
• marry the ketchup
• marry the ketchups

 

Descendants

Descendants of ketchup in other languages

• → Arabic: كَتْشَب (katšab)
• → Belarusian: кетчуп (kjetčup)
• → Bulgarian: кетчуп (ketčup)
• → Cantonese: 茄汁 (ke^4-2 zap¹)
• → Catalan: quètxup
• → Czech: kečup
• → Danish: ketchup
• → Dutch: ketchup
• → Finnish: ketsuppi
• → French: ketchup
• → German: Ketchup, Catchup; Ketschup
  • → Lower Sorbian: ketšup
• → Greek: κέτσαπ (kétsap)
• → Hebrew: קֶטְשׁוֹפּ (ketshop)
• → Hokkien: 茄汁 (kiô-chap) (Singapore)
• → Hungarian: ketchup
• → Irish: citseap
• → Japanese: ケチャップ (kechappu)
• → Korean: 케첩 (kecheop)
• → Marshallese: kōjjeb
• → Persian: کچاپ (kečâp)
• → Polish: keczup, ketchup
• → Portuguese: ketchup
• → Romanian: ketchup
• → Russian: кетчуп (ketčup)
  • → Armenian: կետչուպ (ketčʻup)
• → Serbo-Croatian:
  • Cyrillic script: кечап
  • Latin script: kečap
• → Spanish: ketchup, kétchup
• → Swedish: ketchup
• → Tagalog: ketsap
• → Thai: เค็ตชัป (két-chàp)
• → Turkish: ketçap
• → Ukrainian: кетчуп (ketčup)
• → Uzbek: ketchup
• → Welsh: cetsyp
• → Yiddish: קעטשאָפּ (ketshop)

Translations

tomato-vinegar based sauce

• Albanian: keçap m
• Arabic: عَصِير الْبَنْدُورَة m (ʕaṣīr al-bandūra), كَتْشَب (ar) m (katšab)

  Egyptian Arabic: كاتشب m (katšab)

  Hijazi Arabic: كتشب m (katšab, katšap)

• Armenian: կետչուպ (hy) (ketčʻup)
• Azerbaijani: ketçup, ketçap
• Belarusian: ке́тчуп m (kjétčup)
• Bengali: কেচাপ (kecap)
• Bulgarian: ке́тчуп (bg) m (kétčup)
• Catalan: quètxup m, quetxup m
• Chickasaw: akankishniha' okchi'
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 茄汁 (ke^4-2 zap¹)

  Mandarin: 番茄醬／番茄酱 (zh) (fānqiéjiàng), 茄汁 (zh) (qiézhī) (regional)

• Czech: kečup (cs) m
• Danish: ketchup (da) c
• Dutch: ketchup (nl) m, tomatenketchup (nl) m
• Esperanto: keĉupo (eo)
• Estonian: ketšup (et)
• Finnish: ketsuppi (fi)
• French: ketchup (fr) m
• Galician: catchup m, ketchup (gl) m
• Georgian: კეჩუპი (ḳečuṗi), კეტჩუპი (ḳeṭčuṗi)
• German: Ketchup (de) m or n
• Greek: κέτσαπ (el) n (kétsap)
• Hebrew: קֶטְשׁוֹפּ (he) m (ketshop)
• Hindi: केचप m (kecap)
• Hungarian: ketchup (hu), paradicsomszósz (hu)
• Icelandic: tómatsósa (is)
• Ido: kechupo (io)
• Indonesian: saus tomat
• Irish: citseap m
• Japanese: ケチャップ (ja) (kechappu)
• Kazakh: кетчуп (kk) (ketçup)
• Khmer: ទឹកប៉េងប៉ោះ (tɨk peeng pɑh)
• Korean: 케첩 (ko) (kecheop)
• Kyrgyz: кетчуп (ky) (ketcup)
• Latvian: kečups m
• Lithuanian: kečupas m
• Macedonian: ке́чап m (kéčap), до́матен сос m (dómaten sos)
• Malay: kicap (ms), sos tomato (ms)
• Maltese: sos aħmar, ketċap
• Marathi: केचप n (kecap)
• Marshallese: kōjjeb
• Navajo: chʼil łichxíʼí akʼédzidí, chʼil łichxíʼí bitooʼ akʼédzidígíí, achʼííʼ yázhí bikʼétłohí łichxíʼígíí
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ketchup (no) m, ketsjup (no) m

  Nynorsk: ketchup m, ketsjup m

• Persian: کچاپ (kečâp)
• Polish: keczup (pl) m, ketchup (pl) m
• Portuguese: ketchup (pt) m
• Russian: ке́тчуп (ru) m (kétčup), тома́тный со́ус m (tomátnyj sóus)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: кѐчап m

  Roman: kèčap (sh) m

• Slovak: kečup m
• Slovene: kečap m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: ketšup m

• Spanish: kétchup (es) m, ketchup (es) m
• Swedish: ketchup (sv) c
• Tagalog: ketsap
• Tajik: кетчуп (tg) (ketčup)
• Thai: เค็ตชัป (két-chàp)
• Tok Pisin: retsos
• Turkish: ketçap (tr)
• Ukrainian: ке́тчуп (uk) m (kétčup)
• Urdu: کیچپ m (kecap)
• Uyghur: شوخلا قىيامى (shoxla qiyami)
• Uzbek: ketchup (uz)
• Vietnamese: nước xốt cà chua
• Welsh: sos coch m, cetsyp m
• Yiddish: קעטשאָפּ (ketshop)

Verb

ketchup (third-person singular simple present ketchups, present participle ketchupping, simple past and past participle ketchupped)

1. (transitive) To cover with ketchup.
   • 1867, John Maddison Morton, Aunt Charlotte's maid: a farce in one act:

     It strikes me she's "ketchupped" the lot! I won't touch a morsel!

   • 1973, Horizon, page 15:

     "Well," said Chuck, ketchupping his hamburger, "I'd rather do without King Lear than put up with the human agony it sprang out of. I'd rather not have the Eroica than have the big bloody conqueror it tries to immortalize."

   • 2009, David Silverman, Twinkle, page 4:

     Their fellow diners, like their ketchupped grub, were appropriately dashed and splattered with paint and plaster, reading their Suns and Daily Mirror.

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “ketchup”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Danish

Etymology

From English ketchup, from Malay kicap, from Hokkien 膎汁 (kê-chiap).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈkʰɛd̥ɕub̥]

Noun

ketchup c (singular definite ketchuppen, plural indefinite ketchupper)

1. (uncountable) ketchup (a tomate sauce with vinegar)
2. (countable) ketchup (a particular brand or type of ketchup)

Declension

Declension of ketchup

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	ketchup	ketchuppen	ketchupper	ketchupperne
genitive	ketchups	ketchuppens	ketchuppers	ketchuppernes

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English ketchup, from Malay kicap, from Hokkien 膎汁 (kê-chiap).

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

ketchup m (plural ketchups, diminutive ketchupje n)

1. ketchup

Synonyms

• tomatenketchup

Derived terms

• curryketchup
• tomatenketchup

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English ketchup, from Malay kicap, from Hokkien 膎汁 (kê-chiap).

Pronunciation

• (France) IPA^(key): /kɛt.ʃœp/

• Audio (France)

  (file)

• (France, Quebec) IPA^(key): /kɛt.ʃɔp/

• Audio (Quebec)

  (file)

Noun

ketchup m (plural ketchups)

1. ketchup

Further reading

• “ketchup”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English ketchup, from Malay kicap, from Hokkien 膎汁 (kê-chiap, “fish sauce”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɛ.t͡ʂup/, (rare) /ˈkɛ.t͡ʂap/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛt͡ʂup
• Syllabification: ke‧tchup

Noun

ketchup m inan

1. Alternative spelling of keczup

Declension

Declension of ketchup

	singular	plural
nominative	ketchup	ketchupy
genitive	ketchupu	ketchupów
dative	ketchupowi	ketchupom
accusative	ketchup	ketchupy
instrumental	ketchupem	ketchupami
locative	ketchupie	ketchupach
vocative	ketchupie	ketchupy

Further reading

• ketchup in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• ketchup in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• catchup

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English ketchup.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /kɛˈt͡ʃɐ.pi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /kɛˈt͡ʃɐ.pi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /kɛˈt͡ʃɐ.pe/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kɛˈt͡ʃɐ.pɨ/

Noun

ketchup m (plural ketchups)

1. (uncountable) ketchup (tomato-vinegar based sauce)

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:ketchup.

References

“ketchup” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English ketchup.

Noun

ketchup n (uncountable)

1. ketchup

Declension

declension of ketchup (singular only)

	singular
n gender	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) ketchup	ketchupul
genitive/dative	(unui) ketchup	ketchupului
vocative	ketchupule

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

ketchup m (Cyrillic spelling кетцхуп)

1. Alternative form of kečap

Spanish

Alternative forms

• cátsup
• cátchup
• kétchup
• quéchap (obsolete, Philippines)

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English ketchup, from Malay kicap, from Hokkien 膎汁 (kê-chiap).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /keˈt͡ʃup/ [keˈt͡ʃup]
• Rhymes: -up

Noun

ketchup m (plural ketchups)

1. ketchup

Swedish

ketchup på köttbullar (“meatballs”) och makaroner (“(elbow) macaroni”)

ketchup på pyttipanna

Etymology

From English ketchup.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɛtːɕɵp/

Noun

ketchup c

1. ketchup

Usage notes

Popular and uncontroversial pasta condiment in Sweden.

Declension

Declension of ketchup
	Uncountable
	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	ketchup	ketchupen	—	—
Genitive	ketchups	ketchupens	—	—

Derived terms

• ketchupflaska (“a bottle of ketchup”)
• tomatketchup (“tomato ketchup”)

See also

• makaroner
• köttfärssås
• senap (“mustard”)
• spaghetti
• tomat

References

• ketchup in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• ketchup in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

West Frisian

Etymology

From English ketchup.

Noun

ketchup c (no plural)

1. ketchup