Definition
View the full definition in the Macmillan Dictionary.
Origin and usage
The noun chop with the meaning of official seal or stamp comes from the Hindi ‘chhāp’ meaning print or stamp. It was first used in English in the 17th century.
Examples
The term chop meaning an official seal or stamp originated in India in colonial times, moving from there to China where companies still use official seals or stamps instead of, or as well as, a signature. Company chop was a recent submission to our crowdsourced Open Dictionary. One of the great things about the Open Dictionary is that users around the world can submit terms to it that reflect their local reality. You can submit words and expressions to it here.
Quotations
“An official Chinese company chop on a contract says the Chinese company itself has authorized the contract.”
(chinalawblog.com)
“Whether using the company chop on a contract will effectively make it binding was considered by the High Court of Hong Kong in its recent decision...”
(www.hg.org)
“A personal chop is the name chop of the company’s legal representative, and is sometimes used as a signature for letters.”
(boss.blogs.nytimes.com)
Related words
seal, signature, stamp
Browse related words in the Macmillan Thesaurus.
