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Chinese Pidgin English
Etymology
From English want + English -y, with the suffix spelled as -chee reminiscent of English -sy.
Verb
wantchee
- want
- need
1860, The Englishman in China, London: Saunders, Otley, and Co., page 100:belong olo custom pidgin, any man must wantchee go chin-chin Joss new year tim.- pidgin customs, everyone needs to go worship God on new years
1862, 唐景星 [Tong King-sing], 英語集全 [Chinese English Instructor], volume IV, marginalia, page 32; republished as “Pidgin English texts from the Chinese English Instructor”, in Michelle Li, Stephen Matthews, Geoff P. Smith, editors, Hong Kong Journal of Applied Linguistics, volume 10, number 1, 2005, pages 79-167:
- 㕭灣治𪢍治温卑士羅也
*ju1 waan1 zhi6 get3 zhi6 wan1 bi1 si6 lo4 jaa5
You wantchee catchee one piecee lawyer.
You will have to engage a lawyer.
References
- Gow, W. S. P. (1924) Gow’s Guide to Shanghai, 1924: A Complete, Concise and Accurate Handbook of the City and District, Especially Compiled for the Use of Tourists and Commercial Visitors to the Far East, Shanghai, page 109: “Wantchee: to want; to require.”