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Word file #010Here to stayEveryday English

What does chop chop mean?

Say itchop-CHOP/ˌtʃɒp ˈtʃɒp/interjection (also an adverb)

Character by character
  1. 急jíurgent

Quickly; most often said as a command that means “hurry up!”

Written by the Second Language TeamWritten

Chop chop means “quickly” or “hurry up!” You say it to someone who is moving too slowly, often with a clap or a snap of the fingers: “Chop chop, the bus is leaving.” Most English speakers learn it from parents, coaches, bosses, and old films. It began in the 1800s in Chinese Pidgin English, a trade language that Chinese and foreign merchants used in the port of Canton (today’s Guangzhou). Its first known appearance in print is from there, in 1834 [1].

English speakers say chop-CHOP, with a little more weight on the second chop. You will also see it written chop-chop, with a hyphen. Chinese has no word that sounds like chop chop. The most likely source is 急, “urgent,” which is the same in simplified and traditional characters. In Mandarin it is jí, with a rising tone, like a short question: “jee?” In Cantonese, the language of Canton, it is gap1, a short, flat “gup” that ends on a closed p, so it sounds much closer to chop [2]. Chop chop is informal and bossy. People say it to someone below them, and many hear it as talking down. A writer for NPR’s Code Switch said she could not think of a more condescending way to tell someone to hurry up [3]. Its history adds to this. In 1800s Canton, it was what people said to hurry Chinese servants and workers [3], so some people also hear it as racially insensitive, especially when it is said to an Asian person.

Word stats

Known in English
Most English speakers have heard it from a parent, a coach, or a boss. Few know it started in a Chinese port.
Said in China today
Nobody in China says chop chop. 急 jí is an everyday word for “urgent,” but to say “hurry up,” people use 快点 kuài diǎn.
Polite
Fine with friends and kids, but it is bossy, and many people hear it as talking down. Do not try it on your manager.
Freshness
Almost two hundred years old and holding steady. Searches are about level with last year, so it is in no hurry to leave.

Spotted in the wild

Family chat · Monday, 7:52 am
  1. Momshoes on, chop chop. we leave in 5
  2. Youi can’t find my other sock
  3. Momthen you’re wearing one sock. chop chop

What it means here: Mom means “hurry up”; a parent saying it to a child is the most common and least rude use.

Group chat · Thursday, 6:30 pm
  1. Anagreg wrote “slides by 3, chop chop” in the team channel today
  2. Youto you? the person who made half of his slides?
  3. Anayep. i am 34 years old
  4. Bennext time just reply “sure, boss” and take your time

What it means here: Greg used chop chop as a bossy “hurry up,” and Ana felt talked down to.

Friends chat · movie night
  1. Leomovie starts at 8. it’s 7:50. chop chop
  2. Meilol my grandma never says chop chop. she just shouts 快点!
  3. Yousame energy. i’m running

What it means here: Between friends, chop chop is a joking “hurry up”; Mei’s 快点 (kuài diǎn, “a bit faster”) is what a Chinese speaker would actually say.

How to use it

  • Chop chop! (on its own)Chop chop! The taxi’s outside.
  • chop chop + a commandChop chop, finish your breakfast.
  • a command + chop chopGet your coats on, chop chop.
  • do something chop chop (meaning “quickly”)I need these forms signed chop chop.

Don’t say it like this

  • Sounds offExcuse me, sir, could you sign this, chop chop?

    Say thisCould you sign this soon, please? I’m on a deadline.

    Chop chop is a bossy command. Saying it to a boss, a customer, or a stranger sounds rude.

  • Sounds offChop chop the onions into small pieces.

    Say thisChop the onions into small pieces.

    This chop has nothing to do with knives. Chop chop only means “quickly.”

  • Sounds offSaying “chop chop” to a friend in Beijing and expecting them to hear Chinese.

    Say this快点! (kuài diǎn, “hurry up”)

    Chop chop is English. Chinese has no word like it, so a Chinese speaker hears only an English phrase.

chop chop or not?

Is each of these chop chop? Pick an answer to find out.

  1. A parent is waving the kids toward the car because school starts in ten minutes.

  2. A recipe tells you to cut the carrots into tiny pieces.

  3. A coach claps and calls the team back onto the field after a water break.

  4. You are politely asking your manager to approve your vacation days.

The chop chop family

  • chopsticksThe eating sticks; their name probably comes from the same pidgin chop, “quick.”So chopsticks may really be “quick sticks.” Your noodles have no comment.
  • chop sueyA dish of mixed stir-fried pieces; its chop comes from Cantonese 雜 zaap6, “mixed.”Same spelling, no hurry involved. How fast you order it is up to you.
  • 快点 kuài diǎnMandarin for “hurry up,” literally “a bit faster.”What a Chinese parent actually shouts at the door. No chopping needed.

Where it came from

  1. 1834Chop chop appears in print in the Canton Register, an English-language newspaper printed in Canton (Guangzhou), China. Its May 13 issue uses it to mean “hurry” [1][2].
  2. 1886Hobson-Jobson, a dictionary of words that British English picked up in Asia, traces chop chop to Cantonese kap 急, “make haste.” NPR reports that Englishmen who traveled the Asian seas soon picked it up [3].
  3. 1909The earliest known use outside China: the London Daily Chronicle explains that in pidgin English, chop chop means “make haste” [2].
  4. 1916By now it is established military slang. The U.S. Army’s Signal book of 1916 lists a “chop chop signal” [3].

Which Chinese word is behind chop chop?

Dictionaries agree that chop chop came from Chinese Pidgin English. They do not agree on which Chinese word the pidgin chop came from. There are three candidates, and each looks the same in simplified and traditional characters.

CandidateMandarin / CantoneseMeaningWho supports it
急jí / gap1urgent, hastyAmerican Heritage Dictionary [2]; Hobson-Jobson, 1886 [3]
快快kuàikuài / faai3 faai3fast, fastOxford English Dictionary [1]
速速sùsù / cuk1 cuk1quicklyOnly Wiktionary, which is a weak source

The leading theory is 急. The American Heritage Dictionary says that pidgin chop meant “quick.” It links chop to Cantonese gap1 and Mandarin jí, and traces both back to an older Chinese form pronounced roughly “kip.” The pidgin then doubled it to make chop chop [2].

The OED gives 快快 instead, written in an older spelling, k’wâi-k’wâi [1]. The linguist Victor Mair doubts this, because kuàikuài sounds very different from chop chop [2]. Neither theory can be proven, so 急 is the best guess, not a fact.

In Chinese today, 急 jí is an everyday word for “urgent” or “anxious.” It is not a command, though. To tell someone to hurry up, a Mandarin speaker would usually say 快点 kuài diǎn (traditional 快點), which means “a bit faster.”

Two other English words have a chop in them:

  • The chop in chopsticks probably comes from the same pidgin chop, “quick” [2].
  • The chop in chop suey is not related. It comes from Cantonese 雜 zaap6 (simplified 杂), “mixed” [2].

There is also a second, separate chop chop. In Nigerian English, it is a noun for bribery and for stealing public money. The OED first records it in 1966, and it comes from a different pidgin verb, chop, “to eat.” It has nothing to do with hurrying.

Sources

  1. chop-chop, adv. & int. meanings, etymology and moreOxford English Dictionary
  2. Chop-chop and chopsticksLanguage Log (Victor Mair, University of Pennsylvania), November 28, 2013
  3. Quick! What Are The Origins Of 'Chop-Chop'?NPR Code Switch, February 20, 2014

More words to decode

Articles

Swap chop chop for real Chinese

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