筷子

Etymology

The Old Chinese words for "chopsticks" were 箸 (OC *das) and 梜 (OC *keːb). 箸 is preserved in almost all Min dialects (Taiwanese tī, tū; Fuzhou dê̤ṳ) and some other dialects, especially those in some contact with Min; it is also preserved in loans to other languages, e.g. Korean 젓가락 (jeotgarak), Vietnamese đũa and Zhuang dawh. Starting from the Ming Dynasty, the change to 筷子 occurred in Mandarin, Wu and some Cantonese dialects. The 15th century book Shuyuan Miscellanies (《菽園雜記》) by Lu Rong (陸容) mentioned this change:

如舟行諱「住」……，以「箸」為「快兒」 [Classical Chinese, trad.][▼ expand/hide]

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如舟行讳“住”……，以“箸”为“快儿” [Classical Chinese, simp.]

Rú zhōuháng huì “zhù”......, yǐ “zhù” wéi “kuàir” [Pinyin]

As the mariners feared 住 (“to stay”) […], they called 箸 (“chopsticks”) 快兒 (lit. "quick").

The bamboo radical (竹) was later added to 快 to form 筷.

Pronunciation

Noun

筷子

1. chopsticks (Classifier: 雙／双 m c; 對／对 m c; 根 m; 把 m; 副 m)

   用筷子吃飯 / 用筷子吃饭  ―  yòng kuàizi chīfàn  ―  to eat with chopsticks

   一次性筷子  ―  yīcìxìng kuàizi  ―  disposable chopsticks