--- title: "English words that come from Chinese: tea, ketchup, kung fu and 22 more, with the Chinese" description: "Tea, ketchup, kung fu, typhoon, kowtow and more: the English words borrowed from Chinese, each with its characters, its Mandarin and where it came from, and the English phrases translated word for word from Chinese." canonical: "https://mandarinthewild.com/guides/english-words-from-chinese" published: "2026-10-27" updated: "2026-10-27" author: "Mandarin The Wild" --- # English words that come from Chinese Most came through Cantonese and Hokkien, the languages of the southern ports, not Mandarin. By Mandarin The WildUpdated 27 October 20263 min read We make Mandarin The Wild. The short answer English has borrowed a few dozen everyday words from Chinese: tea, ketchup, kung fu, typhoon, kowtow, feng shui, dim sum and wok among them. Most came through Cantonese and Hokkien, the languages of the southern ports where English traders landed, so they sound little like Mandarin: “tea” is Hokkien tê, while Mandarin says 茶 (chá). English also translated some Chinese phrases word for word, like “lose face” and “paper tiger”. ## Food and drink Food is where most of the words are, carried by traders and by the Cantonese cooks of the first Chinese restaurants abroad1: | English | Chinese | Mandarin | Came through | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | tea | 茶 | chá | Hokkien tê; “chai” and “cha” go back to chá, the Mandarin and Cantonese word | | ketchup | 膎汁 | (Mandarin says 番茄酱, fānqiéjiàng) | probably Hokkien kê-tsiap, a fish sauce | | dim sum | 点心 | diǎnxin | Cantonese dim2 sam1 | | wok | 镬 | huò | Cantonese wok6 | | chow mein | 炒面 | chǎomiàn | Taishanese, a southern language close to Cantonese | | bok choy | 白菜 | báicài | Cantonese baak6 coi3, “white vegetable” | | wonton | 云吞 (馄饨 in Mandarin) | húntun | Cantonese wan4 tan1 | | lychee | 荔枝 | lìzhī | Chinese, by the 1500s | | kumquat | 金橘 | jīnjú | Cantonese gam1 gwat1, “golden orange” | | ginseng | 人参 | rénshēn | Hokkien | | tofu | 豆腐 | dòufu | through Japanese | ## Martial arts, games and ideas | English | Chinese | Mandarin | What it means in Chinese | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | kung fu | 功夫 | gōngfu | skill from hard work, any skill, not only fighting | | tai chi | 太极 | tàijí | “the supreme ultimate” | | feng shui | 风水 | fēngshuǐ | “wind and water” | | yin and yang | 阴阳 | yīnyáng | shade and sun, the two forces | | mahjong | 麻将 | májiàng | the tile game | | kowtow | 叩头 | kòutóu | to knock the head on the ground in a bow | 他练了十年功夫。 gōngfu: “He has practised kung fu for ten years.” 功gōng夫fu Noun kung fu; martial arts In Chinese, 功夫 is wider than in English: it is the time and effort something takes, so 这道菜很花功夫 means “this dish takes a lot of work”, with no fighting in it. ## Words with a longer road - **Typhoon** came from more than one direction: Greek _typhōn_ and Arabic _ṭūfān_ met Chinese 大风 (dàfēng, “big wind”) and Cantonese daai6 fung1 in the ports of Asia2. Chinese now writes it 台风 (táifēng). - **Tycoon** came through Japanese _taikun_, from Chinese 大君 (dàjūn, “great lord”), a title used for the shogun. - **Gung ho** is 工合 (gōnghé), short for the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives; an American Marine officer who had seen them took it as a motto in 1942, as “work together”2. - **Shih tzu** is 狮子 (shīzi), “lion”, for the dog’s mane. ## Phrases English translated from Chinese Some English phrases are Chinese said word for word in English1: - **Lose face** is 丢脸 (diūliǎn), and “save face” its partner. - **Paper tiger** is 纸老虎 (zhǐlǎohǔ), something that looks dangerous but isn’t, made famous by Mao Zedong. - **Brainwashing** is 洗脑 (xǐnǎo), which entered English in 1950. - **Long time no see** is often said to be 好久不见 (hǎojiǔ bújiàn) in English, though the dictionaries call it probable, not proven. 好久不见！你最近怎么样？ hǎojiǔ bújiàn: “Long time no see! How have you been?” 好háo久jiǔ不bú见jiàn Pattern long time no see Also written 好久不見 ## Going the other way Chinese borrows from English too, mostly by sound: 咖啡 (kāfēi, coffee), 沙发 (shāfā, sofa), 巧克力 (qiǎokèlì, chocolate) and 酷 (kù, cool). Our list of [Chinese words that sound like English](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-vocabulary/loanwords) plays each one, and [words that don’t translate](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-vocabulary/untranslatable) has the ones English has no word for. With the [extension](https://mandarinthewild.com/extension), any Chinese word on any page shows its meaning when you point at it, and [the Library](https://mandarinthewild.com/library) has graded stories to read from HSK 1. ## Questions ### What English words come from Chinese? Tea, ketchup, kung fu, tai chi, feng shui, dim sum, wok, chow mein, bok choy, lychee, kumquat, ginseng, mahjong, kowtow, typhoon (in part), tycoon (through Japanese) and gung ho, among others. Most came through Cantonese or Hokkien rather than Mandarin. ### Why don’t English words from Chinese sound like Mandarin? Most were borrowed in the southern ports, from Cantonese and Hokkien speakers, before Mandarin was China’s standard language. “Tea” is Hokkien tê; Mandarin says chá. ### Is “long time no see” from Chinese? Probably. It matches 好久不见 (hǎojiǔ bújiàn) word for word, and dictionaries call a Chinese origin likely, but it may also come from pidgin English of other places. ## Sources Checked on 27 October 2026. Prices and features change; tell us if one has. 1. [Wikipedia: List of English words of Chinese origin (with each word’s source language)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Chinese_origin) 2. [Online Etymology Dictionary: typhoon, gung ho, kowtow, brainwashing](https://www.etymonline.com/) ## Keep exploring - [Guide普通话Mandarin vs Chinese](https://mandarinthewild.com/guides/mandarin-vs-chinese) - [Guide笔画How Chinese writing works](https://mandarinthewild.com/guides/how-chinese-writing-works) - [Guide流利How to learn Chinese](https://mandarinthewild.com/guides/how-to-learn-chinese) Less going through the motions. More getting the meaning. ## The world is talking. Go get the meaning. [Add to Chrome](https://mandarinthewild.com/go/chrome) [Try the reader](https://mandarinthewild.com/read) Chrome and Edge on a computer. The reader works on any device. Bring your curiosity.We’ll meet you in the wild.