An old term for opium or opium paste, particularly as it was prepared and smoked in Asia.
From Hindi 'chandū' or Urdu, likely of Indo-Aryan origin. Used in English primarily during the 19th and early 20th centuries during the colonial period and opium trade era.
The word 'chandu' appears in early 20th-century literature and crime reports as a marker of exotic danger—it reflected Western fears about Asian immigration and drug use. Today it's largely vanished from English, a linguistic ghost of the opium trade era and colonial anxieties.
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