shanghai

Where does the word "shanghai" come from? It comes from Chinese Shanghai, and was adopted directly into English (1850s).

Shanghai’s story begins in Chinese: Shanghai meant “a major Chinese port city.” The name of the major Chinese port city, a common destination for long, dangerous sea voyages. It reached English by 1850s as shanghai. Coined as a verb on the San Francisco waterfront for drugging and kidnapping men to crew ships bound there. Today, shanghai means to force or trick someone into doing something, originally by kidnapping them for a ship's crew.

1. Stage 1 · Chinese · 13th century Shanghai "a major Chinese port city", the name of the major Chinese port city, a common destination for long, dangerous sea voyages.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1850s shanghai "to kidnap someone to serve as a sailor", coined as a verb on the San Francisco waterfront for drugging and kidnapping men to crew ships bound there.