wok

American  

[wok] / wɒk /

noun

1. a large bowl-shaped pan used in cooking Chinese food.

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wok British  

/ wɒk /

noun

1. a large metal Chinese cooking pot having a curved base like a bowl and traditionally with a wooden handle

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Etymology

Origin of wok

1955–60; < dialectal Chinese (Guangdong) wohk pan, equivalent to Chinese huo

Explanation

A wok is a deep, rounded pan that's used for cooking, especially stir frying. If you've eaten at a Chinese restaurant, you've had food cooked in a wok. A wok is shaped like a big, deep bowl, and while it's most common in South China, it's used all over Asia, and increasingly in the rest of the world as well. The shape of a wok works particularly well for stir frying; the bottom gets much hotter than the sides, and food can be cooked quickly. The word wok comes from Cantonese, and it was first used in English in the mid-20th century.

Example Sentences

He has a taste for street food, and appears on social media wearing a T-shirt and shorts while stir-frying with a wok, or performing 1980s Thai pop on the saxophone or piano.

From Barron's • Feb. 8, 2026

We taste-tested two robot wok restaurants in L.A. to determine whose cooking reigns supreme.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 21, 2025

At 75, she’s been at it for more than half-a-century and still frequently works the sole wok at the Merry Go Round.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 26, 2025

A specialist wok hob had also been delivered to the hotel’s kitchen.

From BBC • Aug. 22, 2024

I snatched up my wok as I ran into the seating area and scrambled over to the door that led to the apartment.

From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda