What does "chop-chop" mean?

Tobacco that is produced and sold without excise (tax), and therefore cheap and illegal.

What is a synonym for "chop-chop"?

Common synonyms include: apace, in short order, quicken, quickly, rapidly, speed up.

Chop-chop

adv, intj, noun, slang

adv, intj, noun, slang ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1
Tobacco that is produced and sold without excise (tax), and therefore cheap and illegal. Australia, informal, uncountable
"We are here today to try and do the impossible: to stop the chop chop industry."

Adverb

1
Quickly. not-comparable
""Well, more soon, more better; sendee chop chop," I told him."

Adverb

1
with speed wordnet

Intj

1
Used to urge someone to do something quickly.
"(Singapore) chop-chop kalipok"

Synonyms

All synonyms

apace in short order quicken quickly rapidly speed up

Example

More examples

"Come on guys, chop-chop! We're already late."

Etymology

From Chinese Pidgin English, from Cantonese 速速 (cuk1 cuk1, “quick”). Recorded in English since the 1830s (see citations for adverb). Recorded as a Chinese term in 1795.

More for "chop-chop"

Synonyms Sentences Pronunciation Translate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonyms See usage examples Check pronunciation Browse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.