Ketchup

Origin of: Ketchup

Ketchup

Any sauce made by the reduction of vegetables, especially tomatoes, dates from the early 18th century. (The OED gives 1711 as the first citation.) The word is an anglicisation of the Amoy (Chinese dialect) koechiap, which is a combination of koe, meaning seafood and chiap, meaning sauce. Thus, the original ketchup was a fish sauce.