Etymograph

English

hong

Hong comes from Cantonese 行 ‘trade, business’.

  1. Cantonesemodern行1hong‘trade’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1901hong1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English hong
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1901, Hezekiah Butterworth, Boston: Dana Estes & Company: “You and your son are about to visit China,"…”.

Lineage

  1. Cantonesemodern行Wiktionary, English honghong‘trade’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1901hongWiktionary, English hong. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1901, Hezekiah Butterworth, Boston: Dana Estes & Company: “You and your son are about to visit China,"…”

Every English word from Cantonese 行

Today it means

noun A foreign trading company in China.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “hong”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Cantonese 行 / hong

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