Since my original post on English words that are borrowed from Malay was so popular, here’s a much shorter list, that of English words that are borrowed from Cantonese. I’ll exclude words like ginseng, kumquat, and lychee, which refer to unique objects that are clearly Chinese in origin, choosing instead to look at words that are not immediately apparently Cantonese. As can be seen, although the British have had a presence in Hong Kong for a while, the loan words are much fewer:
- tangram, possibly from Cantonese “t’ang”
- typhoon, from “tai fung” i.e. large wind, although as Dictionary.com notes, the spelling of the English version of this word is strongly influenced by the Greek “tuphon”
- yen, in the sense of desire
As for “ketchup”, which was discussed by some commenters in my earlier post, this article makes an interesting point: when “ketchup” was borrowed into English in the 18th century, the English used it to refer to a sauce that had fish, but no tomato whatsoever, as the Online Etymology Dictionary entry for the word notes. So while “ketchup” may ultimately be Cantonese in origin, the word most probably does not come from “keh-tsap”, the Cantonese for “tomato sauce” - it’s just an odd coincidence.