<Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> show Transcriptions </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Romanization </Th> <Td> hashi </Td> </Tr> <P> Chopsticks are shaped pairs of equal - length sticks that have been used as kitchen and eating utensils in virtually all of East Asia for over 2000 years . First invented and used by the ancient Han Chinese in the Zhou Dynasty over 2000 years ago, chopsticks later spread to other countries including Japan, Korea, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam . Chopsticks are smoothed and frequently tapered and are commonly made of bamboo, plastic, wood, or stainless steel . They are less commonly made from titanium, gold, silver, porcelain, jade, or ivory . Chopsticks are held in the dominant hand, between the thumb and fingers, and used to pick up pieces of food . </P> <P> The English word "chopstick" may have derived from Chinese Pidgin English, in which "chop chop" meant "quickly". According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest published use of the word is in the 1699 book Voyages and Descriptions by William Dampier: "they are called by the English seamen Chopsticks". Another possibility, is that the term is derived from chow (chow chow) which is also a pidgin word stemming from Southeast Asia meaning food, thus chopsticks would simply mean' food sticks' . </P>

When did chopsticks start to be used as eating utensils