# ketchup
## English
### Alternative forms

* catsup (less common)
* catchup (obsolete)
* katjap, katsup, kechap (archaic)
* ketsup (dated)

### Etymology

Uncertain, but probably ultimately from Hokkien 膎汁 (kê-chiap, “fish sauce”) via Malay kicap, though the precise path is unclear – there are related words in various Chinese languages, and it may have entered English directly from Hokkien Chinese. Cognate to Indonesian kecap, ketjap (“soy sauce”). Various other theories exist – see Ketchup: Etymology for extended discussion.
First appeared in English in the late 17th century in reference to a Southeast Asian sauce encountered by British traders and sailors. The Oxford English Dictionary notes that it was commonly used in the 18th century to refer to a variety of similar sauces with varying ingredients—"anchovies, mushrooms, walnuts, and oysters being particularly popular"—but by the late 19th century the current tomato ketchup became the most popular form.
Catsup (earlier catchup) is an alternative Anglicization, still in use in the U.S.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkɛt͡ʃ.əp/, /ˈkɛt͡ʃ.ʌp/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (Canada):(file)
* Homophone: catch-up (one pronunciation)

### Noun

ketchup (countable and uncountable, plural ketchups)
* (uncountable, chiefly US, Canada, UK) Ellipsis of tomato ketchup. A tomato-vinegar-based sauce, sometimes containing spices, onion or garlic, and (especially in the US) sweeteners.
    Synonym: tomato catsup
    Hypernyms: tomato sauce, red ketchup, red catsup
    tomato ketchup
    This diner serves ketchup in red bottles, and mustard in yellow ones.
* (countable, now rare) Such a sauce more generally (not necessarily based on tomatoes, but with mushrooms, fish, etc.). This is the older meaning.
    Hyponyms: tomato ketchup, tomato catsup, fruit ketchup, fruit catsup, corn ketchup, corn catsup, green ketchup, green catsup, yellow ketchup, yellow catsup
** 1883, Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery, page lxxxiii:The bottles, however, were port bottles, but contained mushroom ketchup; […]
** 2003, Inns and Bed and Breakfasts in Quebec 2003, Ulysses Travel Guides, page 46:To accompany meat, we prepare fruit ketchups and rhubarb chutney.

#### Usage notes

The spelling ketchup became significantly preferred in the United States due to the popularity of the Heinz brand, which shortly after its introduction in 1876 switched from catsup to this spelling to distinguish itself from competitors. Other major brands, such as Hunt, subsequently followed, with Del Monte only switching to ketchup in 1988.
This condiment is more commonly and somewhat ambiguously called tomato sauce outside of North America and the United Kingdom. In South Africa, the word ketchup is not generally understood.

#### Hypernyms

* condiment
* sauce
* table condiment
* table sauce

#### Coordinate terms

* cherry sauce
* chili sauce
* fish sauce
* hoisin sauce
* oyster flavor sauce
* plum sauce
* soy sauce
* sweet and sour sauce
* sweet chili sauce
* tree sauce
* black pepper
* chili sauce
* chowchow
* cucumber relish
* green relish
* ground black pepper
* ground pepper
* malt vinegar
* mayonnaise
* mustard
* mustard sauce
* pepper
* prepared mustard
* prepared mustard sauce
* prepared yellow mustard
* prepared yellow mustard sauce
* relish
* salt
* siracha
* sweet green relish
* sweet relish
* table salt
* vinegar
* white vinegar
* yellow mustard
* yellow mustard sauce

#### Derived terms

* banana ketchup
* curry ketchup
* ketchuppy
* marry the ketchup
* marry the ketchups

#### Descendants

* → Arabic: كَتْشَب (katšab)
* → Belarusian: кетчуп (kjetčup)
* → Bulgarian: кетчуп (ketčup)
* → Cantonese: 茄汁 (ke$^{4-2}$ zap$^1$)
* → Catalan: quètxup
* → Czech: kečup
* → Danish: ketchup
* → Dutch: ketchup
* → Finnish: ketsuppi
* → French: ketchup
* → German: Ketchup, Catchup (obsolete), Ketschup (superseded)
** → Lower Sorbian: ketšup
* → Greek: κέτσαπ (kétsap)
* → Hebrew: קֶטְשׁוֹפּ (ketshop)
* → Hokkien: 茄汁 (kiô-chap) (Singapore)
* → Hungarian: ketchup
* → Irish: citseap
* → Japanese: ケチャップ (kechappu)
* → Korean: 케첩 (kecheop)
* → Marshallese: kōjjeb
* → Persian: کچاپ (kečâp)
* → Polish: keczup, ketchup
* → Portuguese: ketchup
* → Romanian: ketchup
* → Russian: кетчуп (ketčup)
** → Armenian: կետչուպ (ketčʻup)
* → Serbo-Croatian:
** Cyrillic script: кечап
** Latin script: kečap
* → Spanish: ketchup, kétchup
* → Swedish: ketchup
* → Tagalog: ketsap
* → Thai: เค็ตชัป (két-chàp)
* → Turkish: ketçap
* → Ukrainian: кетчуп (ketčup)
* → Uzbek: ketchup
* → Welsh: cetsyp
* → Yiddish: קעטשאָפּ (ketshop)

#### Translations
### Verb

ketchup (third-person singular simple present ketchups, present participle ketchupping, simple past and past participle ketchupped)
* (transitive) To cover with ketchup.
** 1867, John Maddison Morton, Aunt Charlotte's maid: a farce in one act:It strikes me she's "ketchupped" the lot! I won't touch a morsel!
** 1973, Horizon, page 15:"Well," said Chuck, ketchupping his hamburger, "I'd rather do without King Lear than put up with the human agony it sprang out of. I'd rather not have the Eroica than have the big bloody conqueror it tries to immortalize."
** 2009, David Silverman, Twinkle, page 4:Their fellow diners, like their ketchupped grub, were appropriately dashed and splattered with paint and plaster, reading their Suns and Daily Mirror.

#### References

* ↑ "Ketchup", Oxford English Dictionary (online edition, 2020).
* ↑ “Is There a Difference Between Ketchup and Catsup?”, Slate, Aisha Harris, April 22, 2013
* Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “ketchup”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

## Danish
### Etymology

From English ketchup, from Malay kicap, from Hokkien 膎汁 (kê-chiap).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈkʰɛd̥ɕub̥]

### Noun

ketchup c (singular definite ketchuppen, plural indefinite ketchupper)
* (uncountable) ketchup (a tomate sauce with vinegar)
* (countable) ketchup (a particular brand or type of ketchup)

#### Declension
## Dutch
### Etymology

Borrowed from English ketchup, from Malay kicap, from Hokkien 膎汁 (kê-chiap). Doublet of ketjap.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Noun

ketchup m (plural ketchups, diminutive ketchupje n)
* ketchup
    Synonym: tomatenketchup

#### Derived terms

* curryketchup
* tomatenketchup

## French
### Etymology

Borrowed from English ketchup, from Malay kicap, from Hokkien 膎汁 (kê-chiap).

### Pronunciation

* (France) IPA: /kɛt.ʃœp/
* Audio (France):(file)
* (France, Quebec) IPA: /kɛt.ʃɔp/
* Audio (Quebec):(file)

### Noun

ketchup m (plural ketchups)
* ketchup

### Further reading

* “ketchup”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Italian
### Etymology

Borrowed from English ketchup.

### Noun

ketchup m (invariable)
* ketchup

## Polish
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English ketchup, from Malay kicap, from Hokkien 膎汁 (kê-chiap, “fish sauce”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkɛ.t͡ʂup/, (rare) /ˈkɛ.t͡ʂap/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛt͡ʂup, -ɛt͡ʂap
* Syllabification: ke‧tchup

### Noun

ketchup m inan
* Alternative spelling of keczup

#### Declension
### Further reading

* ketchup in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
* ketchup in Polish dictionaries at PWN

## Portuguese
### Alternative forms

* catchup

### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English ketchup.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˌkɛt͡ʃˈʃu.pi/, /ˌkɛ.t͡ʃiˈʃu.pi/
* (Brazil) IPA: /ˌkɛt͡ʃˈʃu.pi/, /ˌkɛ.t͡ʃiˈʃu.pi/
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /ˌkɛt͡ʃˈʃu.pe/
* (Portugal) IPA: /kɛˈt͡ʃɐ.pɨ/

### Noun

ketchup m (plural ketchups)
* (uncountable) ketchup (tomato-vinegar based sauce)
** 2012, Daniel Galera, Barba ensopada de sangue, Editora Companhia das Letras, →ISBN, page 205:Ela passava as tardes livres da infância vendo a Sessão da Tarde na televisão e comendo nuggets com ketchup.(please add an English translation of this quotation)

### Further reading

* “ketchup”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

## Romanian
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English ketchup.

### Noun

ketchup n (uncountable)
* ketchup

#### Declension
## Serbo-Croatian
### Noun

ketchup m (Cyrillic spelling кетцхуп)
* Alternative spelling of kečap

## Spanish
### Alternative forms

* cátsup
* cátchup
* kétchup
* quéchap (obsolete, Philippines)

### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English ketchup, from Malay kicap, from Hokkien 膎汁 (kê-chiap).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈket͡ʃup/ [ˈke.t͡ʃup]
* Rhymes: -etʃup

### Noun

ketchup m (plural ketchups)
* ketchup

## Swedish
### Etymology

From English ketchup.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkɛtːɕɵp/

### Noun

ketchup c
* ketchup
    senap och ketchupketchup and mustard ["senap och ketchup" feels more idiomatic than "mustard and ketchup" does in English, for some reason]

#### Usage notes

Popular and uncontroversial pasta condiment in Sweden.

#### Derived terms

* ketchupflaska (“bottle of ketchup”)
* tomatketchup (“tomato ketchup”)

#### See also

* makaroner
* köttfärssås
* senap (“mustard”)
* spaghetti
* tomat

### References

* ketchup in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* ketchup in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

## West Frisian
### Etymology

From English ketchup.

### Noun

ketchup c (no plural)
* ketchup