The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) updated its entry for "Cantonese" in June 2026 to include a formal culinary definition, describing food prepared in the style of Guangzhou and the surrounding region as well as the restaurants that serve it. The entry is supported by a timeline of citations beginning with an April 1892 reference in New Jersey's Trenton Times to "Fashionable Cantonese dishes."
Early Western descriptions of Cantonese food appear in the OED's record, including an 1894 Washington Post report that likened a dim sum dumpling to a fishing creel and a 1908 New York Herald comparison to a "second cousin to steamed sponge cake." Later citations note "Cantonese specialties" such as turnip pudding in a 1950 Hong Kong YWCA publication and a 1997 memoir recalling dim sum served from rolling trolleys.
The dictionary now contains 25 Cantonese culinary terms. Established entries include dim sum (added in 1989), yum cha (added in 2016), char siu, wonton, chop suey, hoisin sauce, egg foo yung, and moo goo gai pan. In March 2026, three new terms were added: dan tat (egg tart), pineapple bun, and yin yeung, a Hong Kong beverage combining milk tea and coffee.
Linguist Hugo Tseng, who has studied Chinese lexical borrowing for more than two decades, notes that the vocabulary reflects generations of migration and trade rather than recent globalization alone. The majority of early Chinese immigrants to Western countries came from Guangdong, making Cantonese restaurants dominant in many Chinatowns. Establishments such as New York's Port Arthur Restaurant, opened in 1897, and San Francisco's Shanghai Low served as community gathering places and introduced upscale Cantonese dishes to Western diners.
The term "Cantonese" derives from "Canton," the former English name for Guangzhou first recorded by Portuguese traders in the 16th century. Over time it shifted from a geographic reference to a marker of distinct cultural and culinary identity. Tseng contrasts this with Shanghai's Benbang cuisine, which has left far fewer traces in English despite Shanghai's modern global connectivity.
Tseng argues that the OED's inclusion of these terms shows English speakers adopting culinary vocabulary on its own terms, not merely as foreign concepts requiring explanation. Many early Cantonese restaurants that popularized these dishes have disappeared, but the vocabulary endures and a new generation of Cantonese restaurants continues to operate in Chinatowns and communities worldwide.
How Cantonese Cuisine Became Part of the English Language
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