chifa

Unknown. Perhaps from Cantonese 煮飯／煮饭 (zyu² faan⁶) or Taishanese 煮飯 / 煮饭 (zi² fan⁵). The Comisión Lexicografía de la Academia Peruana (CLAP) proposed that it is from Cantonese 食飯喇 (sik⁶ faan⁶ laa³).^[1]

Compare Spanish chaufa, from Cantonese 炒飯／炒饭 (caau² faan⁶).

Sometimes said to be from Mandarin 吃飯／吃饭 (chīfàn), but this is improbable as the Chinese Peruvians are from southern China.

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃifa/ [ˈt͡ʃi.fa]
• Rhymes: -ifa
• Syllabification: chi‧fa

chifa m (plural chifas)

1. (South America) a Chinese restaurant
   • 1997, Matilde Artés, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Crónica de una desaparición: la lucha de una abuela de Plaza de Mayo [Chronicle of a Disappearance: the Fight of a Grandmother of the Plaza de Mayo]:

     Tenía muchas expectativas, de modo que para aliviar las tensiones, esa noche me reuní con Juan y con sus hijos para cenar en una chifa.

     I had many expectations, so in order to relieve the tension, that night I joined Juan and his children for dinner at a Chinese restaurant.

2. Peruvian Chinese cuisine

• “chifa”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024