congee

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑnd͡ʒi/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒndʒiː/

  • Audio (Southern England)

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• Homophone: kanji (US)

Etymology 1

From late Middle English congie, from Old French congié, congiet (modern French congé), from Latin commeātus (“passage, permission to leave”), from commeō (“I go and come”), from con- + meō (“I go, I pass”). Figurative senses generally borrowed from developments in French congé.

Alternative forms

• conge
• congé

Noun

congee (countable and uncountable, plural congees)

1. Leave, formal permission for some action, (originally and particularly):
   1. (obsolete) Formal permission to leave; a passport.
2. (obsolete) Formal dismissal; (figurative) any dismissal; (originally & particularly humorously ironic) abrupt dismissal without ceremony.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     So courteous conge both did giue and take,
     With right hands plighted, pledges of good will.

3. (obsolete) Formal leavetaking; (figurative) any farewell.
4. (obsolete, Scotland) A fee paid to make another go away, (particularly) alms to a persistent beggar.
5. (archaic) A bow, curtsey, or other gesture (originally) made at departure but (later) including at greeting or in obeissance or respect.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 17, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes , book II, London: Val Simmes for Edward Blount , →OCLC:

     As salutations, reverences, or conges, by which some doe often purchase the honour, (but wrongfully) to be humble, lowly, and courteous […].

   • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, chapter 96, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle , volume IV, London: Harrison and Co., , →OCLC:

     So saying, he bowed with a thousand apish congês, and presented his paper to Peregrine […] .

   • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. , volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. , →OCLC:

     “My daughter Rebecca, so please your Grace,” answered Isaac, with a low congee, nothing embarrassed by the Prince’s salutation, in which, however, there was at least as much mockery as courtesy.

   • 1880, Richard Francis Burton, Os Lusíadas, volume I, page 23:

     His speech thus spake the Moor, and took his leave,
     he and his meiny where the bátels lay:
     formal farewells to chief and crews he gave,
     exchanging congees with due courtesy.

Derived terms

• give congee
• take congee

Verb

congee (third-person singular simple present congees, present participle congeeing, simple past and past participle congeed)

1. (archaic) To give congee, (particularly)
   1. (obsolete, transitive) To give formal permission to leave; to dismiss.
   2. (obsolete, transitive) To give formal permission to do something; to license.
2. (archaic) To take congee: to leave ceremoniously.
3. (archaic) To make a congee: to bow, curtsey, etc., (particularly dialectal) while leaving; (figuratively) to make obeissance, show respect, or defer to someone or something.

Etymology 2

From Tamil கஞ்சி (kañci) or another Dravidian language such as Malayalam കഞ്ഞി (kaññi) (ultimately from Proto-Dravidian *kañci), possibly via Portuguese canje.

Alternative forms

• conjee

Noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:

congee

Wikipedia

congee (usually uncountable, plural congees)

1. (Asian cooking) A type of thick rice porridge or soup, sometimes prepared with vegetables and/or meat.
   • 2022, Ling Ma, “Peking Duck”, in Bliss Montage, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN:

     In a past life in Fuzhou, it represented some reality other than the one of daily congee and pickled turnips, cabbage and boiled rip soup.

Synonyms

• rice porridge; rice congee (hypercorrect)
• (Chinese English): porridge

Hyponyms

• (Korean, Thai, Hong Kong contexts): jook, juk
• (Chinese contexts): zhou

Derived terms

• congee house
• rice congee

Translations

See also

• (Portuguese): canja

See also

• Thesaurus:dim sum

References

References

• "congee | congé, n.²" & "v." in the Oxford English Dictionary, 1891.

Anagrams

• negoce