chow mein

• chaomian
• (Hong Kong) chau min

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

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

chow mein (countable and uncountable, plural chow meins)

1. A westernized Chinese dish of stir-fried noodles with vegetables and meat or seafood.

   Coordinate term: lo mein

   • 1978, “Werewolves of London”, in Warren Zevon, LeRoy Marinell and Waddy Wachtel (music), Excitable Boy, performed by Warren Zevon:

     I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand
     Walking through the streets of Soho in the rain
     He was looking for the place called Lee Ho Fook's
     Gonna get a big dish of beef chow mein.

   • 2006, “POD (The Pick of Destiny)”, in The Pick of Destiny, performed by Tenacious D:

     Our tasty grooves are better than a chicken chow mein!

   • 2007 June 18, Nina Zagat, Tim Zagat, “Meanwhile: Eating Beyond Sichuan”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     Without access to key ingredients from their homeland, Chinese immigrants in the United States working on the Central Pacific Railroad in the 1860s improvised dishes like chow mein and chop suey that nobody back in their native land would have recognized.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

2. (India, slang, offensive, countable) A person from Northeast India.
   • 2017 May 23, Alana Golmei, “Let’s talk about racism”, in Hindustan Times‎^[2], Delhi:

     Since I come from the North-eastern part of India myself and belong to a minority race, I too have suffered from racism, at least in its milder forms. I’ve been called "chinky", "momo", "chowmein", and more.

• chow mein bun
• chowmeinery

• “chow mein, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “chow mein”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Borrowed from English chow mein, from Taishanese 炒麵／炒面 (cau²men⁵, “stir-fried noodles”).

• IPA^(key): /tʃaw mɛjn/

• Audio (France):

  (file)

chow mein m (plural chow meins)

1. chow mein

Borrowed from English chow mein, from Taishanese 炒麵／炒面 (cau²men⁵, “stir-fried noodles”).

chow mein m (uncountable)

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