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.]

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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 mariners regarded 住 (zhù, “to stay; to stop (in the sea)”) as a taboo […], they called 箸 (zhù, “chopsticks”) 快兒 (lit. "quick + diminutive suffix").

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; 把 m; 副 m; 根 m; 枝 c; 隻／只 c)

   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

   免洗筷子 [Taiwanese Mandarin]  ―  miǎnxǐ kuàizi [Pinyin]  ―  disposable chopsticks

Classifier

筷子

1. Classifier for an amount of food held with a pair of chopsticks.
   • 2019, 马可·博格斯 [Marco Borges], translated by 黄温馨 and 陈思鹏, 《终生健身：找回灵活使用身体的本能》 [Power Moves: The Four Motions to Transform Your Body for Life], Beijing: 中国友谊出版公司, →ISBN, page 237:

     健康飲食不過是一筷子菜和一筷子肉的區別。 [MSC, trad.]
     健康饮食不过是一筷子菜和一筷子肉的区别。 [MSC, simp.]

     Jiànkāng yǐnshí bùguò shì yī kuàizi cài hé yī kuàizi ròu de qūbié. [Pinyin]

     A healthy diet is just the difference between a chopstickful of vegetables and a chopstickful of meat.