cumshaw

May. 1st, 2012 07:08 am
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cumshaw (KUHM-shaw) - n., a tip, gratuity; bakshish, bribe.


Originally paid on ships entering the port of Canton, and yet it comes from Xiamen dialect, further up the coast, kam siā, lit. grateful thanks, equivalent to Mandarin gân xiè. Borrowed in the 1810s, more or less.

---L.

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