congee

English

Pronunciation

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

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• 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 [16th–17th c.]
• congé [from 18th c.]

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[entine] 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

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

a type of rice porridge

• Bengali: জাউ (bn) (jau)
• Burmese: ဆန်ပြုတ် (my) (hcanprut)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 粥 (zuk¹)

  Hokkien: 糜 (zh-min-nan) (môe)

  Literary Chinese: 饘粥 (zhānzhōu)

  Mandarin: 米粥 (zh) (mǐzhōu), 粥 (zh) (zhōu), 稀飯／稀饭 (zh) (xīfàn)

• Finnish: congee, riisikeitto
• French: congee (fr) m
• German: Reis-Congee n, Congee n
• Hindi: गांजी f (gāñjī), (rice pudding) खीर (hi) (khīr)
• Hungarian: rizskása (hu), rizsleves (hu)
• Indonesian: bubur (id)
• Japanese: 粥 (ja) (かゆ, kayu, かい, kai, しゅく, shuku), 白粥 (ja) (しらがゆ, shiragayu)
• Jarai: čaŏ, bu
• Kannada: ಗಂಜಿ (kn) (gañji)
• Kapampangan: lelut
• Khmer: បបរ (km) (bɑbɑɑ)
• Korean: 죽(粥) (ko) (juk)
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: bubur (ms)
• Malayalam: കഞ്ഞി (ml) (kaññi)
• Manchu: ᡠᠶᠠᠨ
  ᠪᡠᡩ᠋ᠠ (uyan buda)
• Mongolian: шингэн будаа (šingen budaa), шийжүү (mn) (šiižüü)
• Pangasinan: binulbol
• Portuguese: canja (pt)
• Russian: ри́совый отва́р m (rísovyj otvár), ри́совая ка́ша (ru) f (rísovaja káša), ри́совый суп m (rísovyj sup)
• Spanish: arroz caldo m
• Swedish: rissoppa c, risvälling c
• Tagalog: lugaw
• Tamil: கஞ்சி (ta) (kañci)
• Telugu: గంజి (te) (gañji)
• Thai: โจ๊ก (th) (jóok), (from Cantonese) จุ๊ก (júk)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: cháo (vi)

See also

• (Portuguese): canja

See also

• Thesaurus:dim sum

References

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

Anagrams

• negoce