Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
Canton ginger

Canton ginger

7.4
A tropical Asian plant whose spicy root is used as ginger in cooking
  • noun
  • Archaic
translation icon : jengibre de Cantón
  • The chef added freshly grated Canton ginger to the sauce for a zesty kick.

Examples

  • Traditional herbalists often use Canton ginger in natural remedies for digestion.

  • Have you ever tried Canton ginger tea?

  • At the market, I bought a piece of Canton ginger to use in my stir-fry.

  • I added fresh Canton ginger to the stir-fry.

  • At the market, I bought a piece of Canton ginger to use in my stir-fry.

  • The chef added freshly grated Canton ginger to the sauce for a zesty kick.

  • Traditional herbalists often use Canton ginger in natural remedies for digestion.

Synonyms

common ginger
vsCanton ginger
3.5

A tropical Asian plant with a spicy root used to add flavor to food

is the same but noted as source of root powder
Zingiber officinale
vsCanton ginger
  • Specialized
7.2

A tropical Asian plant whose root is used in cooking and medicine

is similar but emphasized as a cultivated source of powdered root

Surface Forms

Canton ginger singular
Canton gingers plural

Morphology

Canton + ginger

The noun phrase is compositionally built from a place-name plus a product: 'Canton' + 'ginger' denotes a variety or ginger originating from Canton (Guangzhou). Place-based product names are a transparent and cross-linguistically common naming pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would infer the meaning.

Etymology

Canton ginger may come from the old spice trade in the city of Canton, where traders brought strong ginger to market by boat. So the name came to mean 'ginger from that area', the kind people used for cooking and medicine.