Where does “Chow” come from?

Chow comes from Mandarin 周, a word of unknown ultimate origin whose meaning in the etymological chain is not documented.

Chow (English): A Chow Chow (Chinese breed of dog)

Definitions

  1. A Chow Chow (Chinese breed of dog)

Ancestry of “Chow”, step by step

Chow traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via English chow-chow

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Englishchow-chowA Chinese preserve; An American relish,...
2Chinese Pidgin Englishchow-chowfood; eat
3Chinese炒—

via Chinese 州

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Chinese州province

via Cantonese 周

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Cantonese周—

Words derived from “Chow”

Every word from Chinese 炒 →Every word from Chinese Pidgin English chow-chow →Every word from English chow-chow →