Standard Lemma guide

chopstick

noun · verb · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈt͡ʃɒp.stɪk/
  • US: /ˈt͡ʃɑp.stɪk/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: CH AA1 P S T IH2 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An East Asian eating utensil typically used as a pair held in one hand to grip food items, mix liquids, or scoop food out of a bowl. The utensil is a stick, usually made of wood, and measuring approximately 23 cm (10 inches) in length.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: plural-normally

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An Asian person.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: ethnic, slur

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A long straight stick used to keep baited hooks separated in deep-sea fishing tackle.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

Topics: fishing, hobbies, lifestyle

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

To pick up (food), or eat, using chopsticks, or as with chopsticks.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: ambitransitive, informal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

verb

Meaning 5

To fish using a tackle with a chopstick.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, rare

Topics: fishing, hobbies, lifestyle

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

one of a pair of slender sticks used as oriental tableware to eat food with

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: tableware

History

Etymology

Apparently a compound of chop + stick, but the sense of the first element is not clear. The term was earliest applied to fishing tackle (from 1615), later being transferred to the dining utensil (attested since 1637) driven by their visual resemblance. The commonly held derivation from Chinese Pidgin English chop(-chop) (“quick”), a supposed calque from Chinese 筷子 (kuàizi, “chopstick, literally, ‘little quick ones’”), derived from 快 (kuài, “quick”), is chronologically impossible as Chinese Pidgin English did not come into existence until the 18th century.

Across languages

Translations

161 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Ainu: パスイ (pasuy) — single eating utensil
  • Ainu: イペパスイ (ipepasuy) — single eating utensil
  • Southern Altai: тайак (tayak) — single eating utensil
  • Amis: alapit — single eating utensil
  • Amis: alapi — single eating utensil
  • Amis: alalpit — single eating utensil
  • Arabic: أَعْوَاد الْأَكْل (ʔaʕwād al-ʔakl) — single eating utensil
  • Arabic: هَاشِي (hāšī) — single eating utensil
  • Arabic: عَصَا الْأَكْل (ʕaṣā l-ʔakl) — single eating utensil
  • Armenian: փայտիկ (pʻaytik) — single eating utensil
  • Armenian: ուտելու փայտիկ (utelu pʻaytik) — single eating utensil
  • Asturian: paliyu — single eating utensil
  • Asturian: paliellu — single eating utensil
  • Atayal: qqway — single eating utensil
  • Belarusian: па́лачка для е́жы (pálačka dlja jéžy) — single eating utensil
  • Belarusian: па́лачка (pálačka) — single eating utensil
  • Bengali: হাশি (haśi) — single eating utensil
  • Bouyei: deh — single eating utensil
  • Bulgarian: пръ́чка за хра́нене (prǎ́čka za hránene) — single eating utensil
  • Bulgarian: кле́чка за хра́нене (kléčka za hránene) — single eating utensil
  • Bunun: halcis — single eating utensil
  • Burmese: တူ (tu) — single eating utensil
  • Catalan: bastonet — single eating utensil
  • Chinese Cantonese: 筷子 (faai3 zi2) — single eating utensil
  • Chinese: куэзы (kuezɨ) — single eating utensil
  • Eastern Min Chinese: 箸 (dê̤ṳ) — single eating utensil
  • Gan Chinese: 筷子 (kuai3 zi) — single eating utensil
  • Hakka Chinese: 筷仔 (khoai-é) — single eating utensil
  • Chinese: 箸 (zh-min-nan) — single eating utensil
  • Jin Chinese: 筷子 (kuai3 zeh) — single eating utensil
  • Chinese Mandarin: 筷子 (kuàizi) — single eating utensil
  • Chinese Mandarin: 筷兒 /筷儿 (kuàir) — single eating utensil
  • Chinese Mandarin: 箸 (zhù) — single eating utensil
  • Wu Chinese: 筷 — single eating utensil
  • Wu Chinese: 筷子 — single eating utensil
  • Xiang Chinese: 筷子 (kuai4 zr) — single eating utensil
  • Czech: jídelní hůlka — single eating utensil
  • Czech: hůlka — single eating utensil
  • Danish: spisepind — single eating utensil
  • Dutch: eetstokje — single eating utensil
  • Esperanto: haŝio — single eating utensil
  • Esperanto: kvajzo — single eating utensil
  • Esperanto: manĝobastoneto — single eating utensil
  • Estonian: söögipulk — single eating utensil
  • Faroese: etingarpinnur — single eating utensil
  • Faroese: matpinnur — single eating utensil
  • Finnish: syömäpuikko — single eating utensil
  • Finnish: puikko — single eating utensil
  • French: baguette — single eating utensil
  • Georgian: ჩხირები (čxirebi) — single eating utensil
  • German: Essstäbchen — single eating utensil
  • Greek: ξυλάκι (xyláki) — single eating utensil
  • Gujarati: ચોપસ્ટિક્સ (copasṭiks) — single eating utensil
  • Hawaiian: lāʻau ʻai — single eating utensil
  • Hebrew: מַקְּלוֹת אֲכִילָה (mak'lót akhilá) — single eating utensil
  • Hindi: चीनी काँटा (cīnī kā̃ṭā) — single eating utensil
  • Hlai: tiep — single eating utensil
  • White Hmong: rab rawg tais — single eating utensil
  • White Hmong: rawg — single eating utensil
  • Hungarian: evőpálcika — single eating utensil
  • Icelandic: matarprjónn — single eating utensil
  • Icelandic: prjónn — single eating utensil
  • Indonesian: sumpit — single eating utensil
  • Indonesian: penyepit — single eating utensil
  • Indonesian: penjepit — single eating utensil
  • Indonesian: sepit — single eating utensil
  • Irish: cipín itheacháin — single eating utensil
  • Italian: bacchetta — single eating utensil
  • Japanese: 箸 (hashi) — single eating utensil
  • Japanese: おはし (o-hashi) — single eating utensil
  • Japanese: 菜箸 (saibashi) — single eating utensil
  • Japanese: おてもと (otemoto) — single eating utensil
  • Japanese: お手許 (otemoto) — single eating utensil
  • Japanese: お手元 (otemoto) — single eating utensil
  • Japanese: 御手許 (otemoto) — single eating utensil
  • Japanese: 御手元 (otemoto) — single eating utensil
  • Japanese: 割り箸 (waribashi) — single eating utensil
  • Kanakanabu: ʼarating — single eating utensil
  • Kavalan: ipit — single eating utensil
  • Kazakh: таяқша (taäqşa) — single eating utensil
  • Khmer: ចង្កឹះ (cɑɑcɑngkəh) — single eating utensil
  • Khmer: ថ្កៀប (thkiəp) — single eating utensil
  • Korean: 젓가락 (jeotgarak) — single eating utensil
  • Korean: 저가락 (jeogarak) — single eating utensil
  • Lao: ໄມ້ຖູ່ (mai thū) — single eating utensil
  • Lao: ຖູ່ (thū) — single eating utensil
  • Lao: ຕະຂຽບ (ta khīap) — single eating utensil
  • Lü: ᦏᦴᧈ (ṫhuu1) — single eating utensil
  • Lü: ᦺᦙᧉᦏᦴᧈ (may2ṫhuu1) — single eating utensil
  • Lü: ᦑᦰᦵᦆᧇ (t!xeb) — single eating utensil
  • Macanese: faichi — single eating utensil
  • Macedonian: стапче за јадење (stapče za jadenje) — single eating utensil
  • Malay: penyepit — single eating utensil
  • Malay: sumpit (Malacca) — single eating utensil
  • Malay: sepit — single eating utensil
  • Maltese: stikek tal-injam — single eating utensil
  • Manchu: ᠰᠠᠪᡴᠠ (sabka) — single eating utensil
  • Māori: kakape — single eating utensil
  • Māori: kapekape — single eating utensil
  • Marathi: चॉपस्टिक (cŏpasṭik) — single eating utensil
  • Marshallese: aji — single eating utensil
  • Mon: သ္ကေပ် — single eating utensil
  • Mongolian: савх (savx) — single eating utensil
  • Mongolian: модон савх (modon savx) — single eating utensil
  • Nivkh: чафӄ (ț’afq) — single eating utensil
  • Norwegian Bokmål: spisepinne — single eating utensil
  • Nuosu: ꎋ (rrup) — single eating utensil
  • Occitan: bròca — single eating utensil
  • Okinawan: メーシ (meeshi) — single eating utensil
  • Okinawan: ウメーシ (umeeshi) — single eating utensil
  • Paiwan: qecap — single eating utensil
  • Polish: pałeczka — single eating utensil
  • Portuguese: pauzinho — single eating utensil
  • Portuguese: hashi — single eating utensil
  • Puyuma: tratringal — single eating utensil
  • Romanian: bețișor — single eating utensil
  • Rukai: kacipi — single eating utensil
  • Russian: па́лочка (páločka) — single eating utensil
  • Russian: кита́йские па́лочки (kitájskije páločki) — single eating utensil
  • Russian: па́лочка для еды́ (páločka dlja jedý) — single eating utensil
  • Saaroa: 'aratingi — single eating utensil
  • Saisiyat: hahawar — single eating utensil
  • Saisiyat: hahowar — single eating utensil
  • Saisiyat: sasoway — single eating utensil
  • Sakizaya: atip — single eating utensil
  • Serbo-Croatian: штапић за јело — single eating utensil
  • Serbo-Croatian: шта̀пић — single eating utensil
  • Serbo-Croatian: štapić za jelo — single eating utensil
  • Serbo-Croatian: štàpić — single eating utensil
  • Shan: ထူႇ (thùu) — single eating utensil
  • Shan: မႆႉထူႇ (mâ̰i thùu) — single eating utensil
  • Slovak: palička — single eating utensil
  • Slovene: palčka — single eating utensil
  • Slovene: jedilna palčka — single eating utensil
  • Spanish: palillo — single eating utensil
  • Spanish: palito chino — single eating utensil
  • Swedish: ätpinne — single eating utensil
  • Swedish: pinne — single eating utensil
  • Swedish: kinapinne — single eating utensil
  • Tagalog: sipit-Intsik — single eating utensil
  • Tagalog: sipit ng Intsik — single eating utensil
  • Tagalog: ipit-ipit — single eating utensil
  • Tajik: чӯбчаи хӯрока (čübča-yi xüroka) — single eating utensil
  • Taroko: atak — single eating utensil
  • Thai: ตะเกียบ (dtà-gìiap) — single eating utensil
  • Thao: kakthi — single eating utensil
  • Tibetan: ཁོ་ཙེ (kho tse) — single eating utensil
  • Tsou: husu — single eating utensil
  • Turkish: yemek çubuğu — single eating utensil
  • Tuvan: сакпыт (sakpıt) — single eating utensil
  • Ukrainian: па́личка для ї́жі (pályčka dlja jíži) — single eating utensil
  • Ukrainian: па́личка (pályčka) — single eating utensil
  • Uyghur: چوكا (choka) — single eating utensil
  • Uyghur: كويزا (koyza) — single eating utensil
  • Vietnamese: đũa — single eating utensil
  • Vietnamese: đũa cả — single eating utensil
  • Volapük: fidastafil — single eating utensil
  • Welsh: gweillen fwyta — single eating utensil
  • Yami: sosopit — single eating utensil
  • Zhuang: dawh — single eating utensil
  • Zhuang: guhduh — single eating utensil