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Junk

3 stages from Old Javanese to English.

Today it means a flat-bottomed Chinese sailing ship with battened sails

Where does the word "junk" come from? It comes from Old Javanese jong, passing through Portuguese before entering English (1600s).

jong→junco→junk

Old Javanese · medieval

"large seagoing ship"

Old Javanese inscriptions record jong for large ocean-going ships; an older idea that the word came from Chinese chuán 'boat' fits the sounds poorly

Portuguese · 1500s

"large Asian ship"

Tomé Pires, writing his Suma Oriental in Portuguese Malacca around 1512-15, describes the great Javanese juncos trading there

English · 1600s

"flat-bottomed Chinese sailing ship"

English traders in Asia took it from the Portuguese; the Keying, a Chinese junk that sailed to London in 1848, drew huge crowds (junk 'rubbish' is an unrelated word)

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Read the full story

Junk’s story begins in Old Javanese: jong meant “large seagoing ship.” Old Javanese inscriptions record jong for large ocean-going ships; an older idea that the word came from Chinese chuán 'boat' fits the sounds poorly. By 1500s, the word had taken hold in Portuguese as junco. Tomé Pires, writing his Suma Oriental in Portuguese Malacca around 1512-15, describes the great Javanese juncos trading there. It reached English by 1600s as junk. English traders in Asia took it from the Portuguese; the Keying, a Chinese junk that sailed to London in 1848, drew huge crowds (junk 'rubbish' is an unrelated word). Today, junk means a flat-bottomed Chinese sailing ship with battened sails.