Fan-Tan
/ˈfæn.tæn/noun
A Chinese gambling game in which counters are divided into groups, with the remainder determining the winning result.
Did you know?Fan-tan was traditionally played with small objects such as buttons or coins, and a bamboo stick was used to count off groups of four.
Etymological Timeline
Late Imperial China
Cantonese
faan taan
“A game involving repeated division or distribution into groups”
19th Century
Cantonese
番攤
“The name of the gambling game, associated with dividing counters into groups of four”
Late 19th Century
English
fan-tan
“A Chinese gambling game recorded in English-language descriptions of China and Chinese communities”
Early 20th Century
English
fan-tan
“A casino and street gambling game, especially associated with Chinese communities abroad”
Modern English
English
fan-tan
“A gambling game in which the remainder after division by four determines the outcome”