*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of chow

Shortened from chow-chow, from Chinese Pidgin English chow-chow. Compare Macanese chau-cháu. See also English chow fun, chow mein, etc.

3 source sectionsExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 3 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Source etymology 1

Original entry ↗
noun

Food, especially snacks. · Unripe, or partially ripened, fruit seasoned and served as a dish, e.g. pineapple chow or mango chow. · A Chow Chow. · A Chinese person.

verb

To eat.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Shortened from chow-chow, from Chinese Pidgin English chow-chow. Compare Macanese chau-cháu. See also English chow fun, chow mein, etc.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cpi",
        "3": "chow-chow"
      },
      "expansion": "Chinese Pidgin English chow-chow"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "mzs",
        "2": "chau-cháu"
      },
      "expansion": "Macanese chau-cháu"
    },
    {
      "name": "ncog",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "chow fun"
      },
      "expansion": "English chow fun"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "chow-chow",
      "chow-chow#English"
    ],
    [
      "chow-chow",
      "chow-chow#Chinese_Pidgin_English"
    ],
    [
      "chau-cháu",
      "chau-cháu#Macanese"
    ],
    [
      "chow fun",
      "chow fun#English"
    ],
    [
      "chow mein",
      "chow mein#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "Food, especially snacks.",
        "Unripe, or partially ripened, fruit seasoned and served as a dish, e.g. pineapple chow or mango chow.",
        "A Chow Chow.",
        "A Chinese person."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang",
        "uncountable",
        "usually",
        "Trinidad-and-Tobago",
        "Australia",
        "archaic"
      ],
      "recordId": "3afa0af8c6ec4504c43a631f99c398ab38732a88c3eff974a612487d2cf3f853",
      "rawRecordSha256": "a2252e6070bc3b898a2aab926d2cec9d2e9d879d33b2d60bef3346d42d14a943",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 279806
    },
    {
      "pos": "verb",
      "glosses": [
        "To eat."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "South-Africa",
        "slang"
      ],
      "recordId": "7f899e6734d26a729ec543b1f59b0269210090b33782b71f56cba8cd003cad82",
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  }
}

Source etymology 2

Original entry ↗
noun

A prefecture or district of the second rank in China, or the chief city of such a district.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Borrowed from Chinese 州 (zhōu).

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

  • Borrowed-form mention州zh
Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "bor",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "zh",
        "3": "州",
        "tr": "zhōu"
      },
      "expansion": "Chinese 州 (zhōu)"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "州",
      "州#Chinese"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "A prefecture or district of the second rank in China, or the chief city of such a district."
      ],
      "tags": [],
      "recordId": "808472f81beb06ab8edf32b67d851978314fd108484565e61403e6ae1afcb549",
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}

Source etymology 3

Original entry ↗
verb

To call a discarded tile to produce a chow.

noun

A run of three consecutive tiles of the same suit. · A call for forming such a run using a discarded tile.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Phono-semantic matching of Chinese 吃 (chī, literally “to eat”), influenced by the “food” sense of Etymology 1 above.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "psm",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "zh",
        "3": "吃",
        "tr": "chī",
        "lit": "to eat"
      },
      "expansion": "Phono-semantic matching of Chinese 吃 (chī, literally “to eat”)"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "吃",
      "吃#Chinese"
    ],
    [
      "eat",
      "eat"
    ],
    [
      "food",
      "food"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "verb",
      "glosses": [
        "To call a discarded tile to produce a chow."
      ],
      "tags": [],
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    },
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      "glosses": [
        "A run of three consecutive tiles of the same suit.",
        "A call for forming such a run using a discarded tile."
      ],
      "tags": [],
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Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for chow →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-Y2hvdw