wok

Where does the word "wok" come from? It comes from Cantonese wok, and was adopted directly into English (1900s).

Wok’s story begins in Cantonese: wok meant “a round-bottomed cooking pan.” The round-bottomed cooking pan used across Chinese cuisine. It reached English by 1900s as wok. Cantonese 'wok', cooking pot; Mandarin 'guo'. Today, wok means a round-bottomed cooking pan used especially for stir-frying.

1. Stage 1 · Cantonese · medieval wok "a round-bottomed cooking pan", the round-bottomed cooking pan used across Chinese cuisine.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1900s wok "a round-bottomed pan used for stir-frying", Cantonese 'wok', cooking pot; Mandarin 'guo'.