A spice paste or relish made from shrimp or fish, used in Southeast Asian cooking; similar to anchovy paste.
From Malay 'belacan' or 'blachang,' the word entered English through trade with Malaysia and Indonesia during the colonial period. The spelling 'blatchang' represents various English phonetic attempts to spell the Malay word.
Food words reveal trade routes and cultural contact—'blatchang' arrived in English dictionaries because British colonists encountered it in Malaysia and needed a word for it! The messy spelling shows how colonial English speakers were just guessing at foreign sounds.
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