chopstick

noun

chop·​stick ˈchäp-ˌstik 

plural chopsticks

: one of a pair of slender sticks (as of wood or plastic) held between the thumb and fingers and used to lift food to the mouth

Never spear food with a chopstick! If you're having trouble picking up your food, a spoon is your plan B.

—Laura Barry

—usually used in plural

To eat rice, both etiquette and practicality dictate that you use chopsticks to pick up a morsel of meat, fish, or whatever …; position it over the rice bowl, allowing its juices or sauce to drip into the rice; eat the morsel; then shovel some rice into your mouth with the chopsticks.

—Saveur

"… I do get uncomfortable when people use chopsticks for every Asian food. Traditionally, I may use chopsticks when my food is served in a soup bowl with noodles or rice, but we often use forks and spoons for our dishes. …"

—Darrell Loo, quoted in Feast

Illustration of chopstick

Examples of chopstick in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Participants toss the ingredients — shredded vegetables like carrots, daikon radish, yams, cucumber and pickled ginger, along with raw fish — with chopsticks as high as possible while expressing good wishes for the new year. —Cnn.com Wire Service, Mercury News, 19 June 2025

From the very beginning, Daniel catching the fly with the chopsticks from the original movie was such a memorable, iconic moment. —EW.com, 16 June 2025

The potato noodles that bob across the top are pale and round, almost too slippery to catch between your chopsticks. —Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 5 May 2025

The same thing happened on Flight 8, which lifted off on March 6 — another chopsticks catch of Super Heavy, another detonation above the Atlantic Ocean for the upper stage. —Mike Wall, Space.com, 3 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Chinese Pidgin English chop fast + English stick

First Known Use

1699, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for chopstick

• broomstick
• dipstick
• homesick
• joystick
• lipstick
• nonstick
• pickwick
• picnic
• redbrick
• seasick
• sidekick
• slapstick

Kids Definition

chopstick

noun

chop·​stick ˈchäp-ˌstik 

: one of a pair of slender sticks used chiefly in Asian countries to lift food to the mouth