Don't be surprised to find the entry "char siu," the Cantonese recipe of sweet and savory barbecued pork, among the latest version of the ultimate Anglophone reference work, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

It is just one of more than a dozen Hong Kong words, in Cantonese or English formations, that were included in the dictionary's latest update of more than 500 words and phrases.

While "dai pai dong" (open-air food stall), "siu mei" (a type of roasted dim sum) and "yum cha" (breakfast of dim sum and tea) are also about gourmet, some entries consist of food that in fact suggest something else.

It is easy to guess that "sandwich class," for example, means the socioeconomic middle class.

Meanwhile there is a new Chinese-related word from Singapore, "Chinese helicopter," the Singlish term for people from the city-state schooled in Putonghua but who speak very little or no English.

The Global Times reviewed other Chinese or Chinese-related words that made it into the OED over the last few years.

Dama and tuhao are among those Chinese buzzwords that reportedly caught the attention of the Oxford English Dictionary's editing team. Photo: CFP

Get guanxi?

One of the most famous entries is "guanxi," which is defined as "the system of social networks and influential relationships that facilitate business and other dealings," or more simply, "connections."

It is often used in English-language business magazines.

Two recent examples would be the Forbes headline "China Guanxi: Overrated," and the article "Guanxi and relationships in China" in Business Insider.

"Guanxi refers to a vast network of connections arising from party, family and work connections that may go back several generations. Guanxi does not rely on a single individual. The elimination of one member of a real guanxi network is therefore not fatal. Foreigners almost always rely only on one or two individuals for their supposed guanxi. This kind of network is too fragile to be of enduring value," wrote lawyer Dan Harris in the Forbes article, as he argued why guanxi might not be that important for foreign businesses in China.

Interestingly, some words became history years after they entered the dictionary.

"Laogai," defined as "reform through labor," is a kind of criminal justice system that involves the use of penal labor and prison farms; it was added in 2003, and entered German, French and Italian dictionaries after a few years. A decade later, the Chinese government abolished the system.

Against common belief

Meanwhile, some words or phrases listed as originating in English-speaking countries are widely believed, even in the US, to have come from Chinese.

Since each word in the phrase "long time no see" matches the four characters in the Chinese way of saying it, haojiu bujian, it seems arguable.

The dictionary defines "long time no see" as broken English to greet someone from the past, but cites an American Indian in the first written reference in 1900, though in the form of "long time no see you."

Likely candidates

Then there are Chinese buzzwords that reportedly caught the attention of the dictionary's editing team, but haven't codified into a loan word yet.

Tuhao, which means "uncouth rich" who have enormous wealth but bad manners and poor taste, was one of the candidates.

Julie Kleeman, project manager with the editing team, told the Beijing Youth Daily in 2013 that the word was likely to appear among the updated list if its influence continues.

She also mentioned the likelihood of including hukou, the household registration system that frequently appears in English-language coverage of China anyway because of its importance for access to education, welfare and other rights.

Another one is dama, the term for middle-aged women, which the Wall Street Journal used to refer to the thousands of Chinese women that served as the driving force in the global gold market when prices slumped in the second quarter of 2013.

Kleeman said the original meaning of such words are retained by their use over an English description or synonym, and that people get an intuitive grasp of the Chinese concept if in context they understand the origins coming from pinyin.

Pinyin itself, by the way, is already in the OED.