Synonyms

wok

American

[wok] / wɒk /

noun

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

wok British

/ wɒk /

noun

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of wok

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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 swung the wok, splatting a few, but more and more gathered.

From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023