Chopstick

Chopsticks
"Chopsticks" in Chinese characters
Chinese name
Chinese	筷子
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin kuàizi Wade–Giles k'uai4-tzu5 IPA [kʰwâi.tsɨ] Wu Romanization khuae去-tsy上 Hakka Romanization kuai-e Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization faai-jí Jyutping faai3-zi2
Alternative Chinese name
Chinese	箸
Transcriptions Southern Min Tâi-lô tī
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese	đũa
Chữ Nôm
Korean name
Hangul	젓가락
Hanja	箸
Transcriptions Revised Romanization jeokkarak McCune–Reischauer chŏkkarak
Japanese name
Kanji	箸
Kana	はし
Transcriptions Romanization hashi

Chopsticks are shaped pairs of equal-length sticks that have been used as the traditional ancient kitchen and eating utensils in virtually all of East Asia for over 6000 years. First used by the Chinese, use of the chopsticks later spread to other countries either through cultural influence or through Chinese immigrant communities, such as Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as California, New York, Hawaii of the United States, and cities in Canada and Australia with Chinese communities. Chopsticks are smoothed and frequently tapered and are commonly made of bamboo, plastic, wood, or stainless steel. They are less commonly made from gold, silver, porcelain, jade, or ivory. Chopsticks are held in the dominant hand, between the thumb and fingers, and used to pick up pieces of food.

The English word "chopstick" may have derived from Chinese Pidgin English, in which "chop chop" meant "quickly". According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest published use of the word is in the 1699 book Voyages and Descriptions by William Dampier: "[T]hey are called by the English seamen Chopsticks".