chow mein

chow mein

English

Chow mein

Alternative forms

• chaomian
• (Hong Kong) chau min

Etymology

Borrowed from Taishanese 炒麵／炒面 (cau² men⁵, “stir-fry noodles”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌtʃaʊ ˈmeɪn/[1]
• (Hong Kong) IPA^(key): /tʃaʊ min/[2]

Noun

chow mein (uncountable)

1. A westernized Chinese dish of stir-fried noodles with vegetables and meat or seafood.
   • 2006 The Pick of Destiny (song) from the film Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny

     Our tasty grooves are better than a chicken chow mein!

Derived terms

• chow mein bun
• chowmeinery

Translations

Westernised Chinese dish of stir-fried noodles with vegetables and meat or seafood

Chinese: Cantonese: 炒麵, 炒面 (caau2 min6) Mandarin: 炒麵／炒面 (zh) (chǎomiàn) Min Nan: 炒麵 (zh-min-nan), 炒面 (chhá-mī) Dutch: tjauwmin (nl) m Finnish: chow mein German: Chow-Mein n Hungarian: pirított tészta, sült tészta Japanese: 炒麺 (chāmen) Portuguese: chow mein m Russian: чаомя́нь (čaomjánʹ) Spanish: chow mein m Thai: please add this translation if you can

References

1. “chow mein”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
2. Patrick J. Cummings, Hans-Georg Wolf (2011) A Dictionary of Hong Kong English: Words from the Fragrant Harbor, Hong Kong University Press, →ISBN, page 37

• “chow mein, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “chow mein”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

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French

Etymology

From English chow mein, from Taishanese 炒麵／炒面 (cau² men⁵, “stir-fry noodles”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʃaw mɛjn/

• France

  (file)

Noun

chow mein m (plural chow meins)

1. chow mein

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Portuguese

Noun

chow mein m (uncountable)

1. chow mein (westernised Chinese dish of stir-fried noodles with vegetables and meat or seafood)