<p>The original character is actually <strong>箸</strong>, not <strong>著</strong>. The latter is a derivative character of the former, and the former is not used anymore in Mandarin Chinese as a word for 'chopsticks', but is still used in some other Chinese languages.</p>

<p>According to <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chop-chop#English" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a>, chop-chop comes from <strong>速速</strong> (Cantonese <em>cuk1 cuk1</em>), but it's been too long since that word was invented, and since its earliest usage was probably among pidgin communities in Southeast Asia, which is a melting pot of cultures and languages, its true origin is very unlikely to be convincingly determined.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-09T22:40:05.757Z
"箸" is not obsolete. It is alive and well in the Min language group in Southern China. Southern dialects or languages preserve many older, classical Chinese terms, and "箸" is one of them.
monalisa
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-09T22:42:41.367Z
@monalisa thanks for informing me of this. I'll update the answer accordingly.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-09T13:10:21.583Z
2018-01-09T22:43:37.273Z
2018-01-09T22:43:37.273Z
dROOOze
<blockquote>
  <p><em>Do people say 急急 gapgap in Cantonese?</em> </p>
</blockquote>

<p>急急 means "hurriedly" (adv) In Cantonese. It has nothing to do with chopstick</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><em>Is 急, gap1, really the origin of chopstick and chop-chop?</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>No, the English term 'chopstick' most likely came from the description of set of 筷子. (筷子 always come set in pair, and a set of chopsticks is like one stick chopped in half in the middle)</p>

<p>'Chop chop' (quickly) either came from '速速' in Cantonese, as in "<a href="http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/51395/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">速速磅</a>"  /<strong><em>cuk1 cuk1</strong> bong6</em>/ (hand over the money <strong>quickly!</strong>) or came from the 'chop chop' sound that people made when cutting food quickly on a cutting board. In either case, it has nothing to do with chopsticks.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-09T20:25:16.267Z
http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/364/#jyutpinginfo [1] quick
Pedroski
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-09T20:35:23.950Z
'急急' is not '急' ; 速速 is not '速'. 急 and 速 can be adjective or adverb or noun, but 急急 is always adverb for 'hurriedly'
Tang Ho
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2018-01-09T23:47:17.467Z
Even in English, when we want someone to move fast, we might say 'quick quick'.
Pedroski
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-09T13:28:21.070Z
2018-01-09T13:28:21.070Z
Tang Ho
<p>Looking up chopstick and chop-chop (meaning 'quickly' in English), I find: the original word for 筷子 is 著 pronounced the same as 住, which has a meaning of stop. This was considered unlucky, so 著 was, at some stage, changed to 快 and later 竹 was added.</p>

<p>Cantonese for 急 is gap1, I believe. Maybe in Cantonese it sounds a bit like chop. Foreigner traders and sailors took 筷子 and made the partial translation chopstick in English.</p>

<p>Do people say 急急 gapgap in Cantonese? Is 急, gap1,  really the origin of chopstick and chop-chop?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-09T23:29:48.423Z
急 is pronounced gup. I'm not sure about the numbers, I just know because I'm Cantonese.
Xetrov
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-09T23:44:01.373Z
Is it possible that some people pronounce it 'jap' as in Japan? Or is it always 'gup' with a g  as in 'go'?
Pedroski
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-10T00:21:20.497Z
@Pedroski The /g/ in Cantonese is actually an unaspirated /k/, or an unvoiced /g/, not related to the soft /g/ in English at all.
monalisa
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-10T04:19:58.617Z
急 is indeed gap1, pronounced with a hard g (voiceless), nowhere near chop. 筷子 is faai3 zi2, also quite different from the Mandarin version. Velars + /u/ are usually spirantized to /f/. 花 faa1, 歡 fun1, etc…
dda
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-10T08:50:52.080Z
@monalisa: that's where I got 急 from, etymonline.com said chop comes from Cantonese kap. If it were pronounced jap like JAPan, 2 times JAPJAP said fast sounds a lot like chopchop to me. Heyho, grasping straws!
Pedroski
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-10T22:49:18.080Z
@dda , you seem to know Cantonese pretty well. Did you learn it, or are you Cantonese?
Xetrov
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-10T22:51:59.263Z
Also, it is _gup_ 急 means hurried. As in 急救, meaning emergency life saving, or 急著,meaning urge to. It is _gup_ not _gap_
Xetrov
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-11T00:18:35.860Z
https://www.cantoneseclass101.com/cantonese-dictionary/ 急，gap1。 不对的？
Pedroski
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-11T02:05:47.693Z
@VortexYT I studied it at CUHK (中文大學). I've been in HK 11 years, and spend quite some time in Guangdong.
dda
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-11T22:13:59.067Z
@dda cool! And also 你說的是不對。
Xetrov
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-12T06:12:29.060Z
You'll have to explain what is wrong in what I'm saying...
dda
<word><loanwords>
The origin of the word chopstick
# The origin of the word chopstick

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-01-09)

Looking up chopstick and chop-chop (meaning 'quickly' in English), I find: the original word for 筷子 is 著 pronounced the same as 住, which has a meaning of stop. This was considered unlucky, so 著 was, at some stage, changed to 快 and later 竹 was added.

Cantonese for 急 is gap1, I believe. Maybe in Cantonese it sounds a bit like chop. Foreigner traders and sailors took 筷子 and made the partial translation chopstick in English.

Do people say 急急 gapgap in Cantonese? Is 急, gap1, really the origin of chopstick and chop-chop?

**Tags:** word, loanwords

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: 急 is pronounced gup. I'm not sure about the numbers, I just know because I'm Cantonese.  
> **username_0**: Is it possible that some people pronounce it 'jap' as in Japan? Or is it always 'gup' with a g  as in 'go'?  
> **username_2**: @username_0 The /g/ in Cantonese is actually an unaspirated /k/, or an unvoiced /g/, not related to the soft /g/ in English at all.  
> **username_3**: 急 is indeed gap1, pronounced with a hard g (voiceless), nowhere near chop. 筷子 is faai3 zi2, also quite different from the Mandarin version. Velars + /u/ are usually spirantized to /f/. 花 faa1, 歡 fun1, etc…  
> **username_0**: @username_2: that's where I got 急 from, etymonline.com said chop comes from Cantonese kap. If it were pronounced jap like JAPan, 2 times JAPJAP said fast sounds a lot like chopchop to me. Heyho, grasping straws!  
> **username_1**: @username_3 , you seem to know Cantonese pretty well. Did you learn it, or are you Cantonese?  
> **username_1**: Also, it is _gup_ 急 means hurried. As in 急救, meaning emergency life saving, or 急著,meaning urge to. It is _gup_ not _gap_  
> **username_0**: https://www.cantoneseclass101.com/cantonese-dictionary/ 急，gap1。 不对的？  
> **username_3**: @VortexYT I studied it at CUHK (中文大學). I've been in HK 11 years, and spend quite some time in Guangdong.  
> **username_1**: @username_3 cool! And also 你說的是不對。  
> **username_3**: You'll have to explain what is wrong in what I'm saying...  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2018-01-09. Score: 2

The original character is actually **箸**, not **著**. The latter is a derivative character of the former, and the former is not used anymore in Mandarin Chinese as a word for 'chopsticks', but is still used in some other Chinese languages.

According to [this](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chop-chop#English), chop-chop comes from **速速** (Cantonese *cuk1 cuk1*), but it's been too long since that word was invented, and since its earliest usage was probably among pidgin communities in Southeast Asia, which is a melting pot of cultures and languages, its true origin is very unlikely to be convincingly determined.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: "箸" is not obsolete. It is alive and well in the Min language group in Southern China. Southern dialects or languages preserve many older, classical Chinese terms, and "箸" is one of them.  
> **username_4**: @username_2 thanks for informing me of this. I'll update the answer accordingly.  

---

### Answer by username_5 on 2018-01-09. Score: 1

> *Do people say 急急 gapgap in Cantonese?*

急急 means "hurriedly" (adv) In Cantonese. It has nothing to do with chopstick

> *Is 急, gap1, really the origin of chopstick and chop-chop?*

No, the English term 'chopstick' most likely came from the description of set of 筷子. (筷子 always come set in pair, and a set of chopsticks is like one stick chopped in half in the middle)

'Chop chop' (quickly) either came from '速速' in Cantonese, as in "[速速磅](http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/51395/)" /***cuk1 cuk1*** bong6/ (hand over the money **quickly!**) or came from the 'chop chop' sound that people made when cutting food quickly on a cutting board. In either case, it has nothing to do with chopsticks.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/364/#jyutpinginfo [1] quick  
> **username_5**: '急急' is not '急' ; 速速 is not '速'. 急 and 速 can be adjective or adverb or noun, but 急急 is always adverb for 'hurriedly'  
> **username_0**: Even in English, when we want someone to move fast, we might say 'quick quick'.  

---

