Etymology

tofu dreg

Today it means: A poorly constructed building in China, or the shoddy material(s) used to construct it. Full definition →

Chinese 豆腐渣
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The story

  1. Chinese · calque of豆腐渣“tofu dreg; okara”
  2. English todaytofu dreg

Calque of Chinese 豆腐渣 (dòufuzhā, “tofu dreg; okara”), dòufuzhā as in 豆腐渣工程 (dòufuzhā gōngchéng) and similar phrases. Coined by Tan Zuoren in 2008.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.