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Shanghai

2 stages from Chinese to English.

Today it means to force or trick someone into doing something, originally by kidnapping them for a ship's crew

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

Shanghai→shanghai

Chinese · 13th century

"a major Chinese port city"

the name of the major Chinese port city, a common destination for long, dangerous sea voyages

English · 1850s

"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

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