Talk:啤酒

Where does the Mandarin /pʰ-/ initial come from? Is it possible that the term was borrowed into Wu first, and that the Mandarin /pʰ-/ initial is the result of "converting" Wu /b-/ into Mandarin? —Suzukaze-c◇◇ 07:39, 9 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Yeah, that's likely. It's probably via Shanghainese specifically (per 钱乃荣's 上海方言). — justin(r)leung { (t...) 20:00, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

Etymology
Is it really borrowed from english? It even doesn't sound like beer. Polish or Russian etymology (pivo) is more likely. 啤 was first recorded around 1910 and in that time Poles and Russians were working on Chinese Eastern Railway. Around 1900 Harbin grew into the city and Pole Jan Wróblewski build Harbin Brewery there. This brewery was very successful and is still one of the largest breweries in China. Also look at *pivo and descendants from Russian into Asian languages. Sławobóg (talk) 14:55, 3 July 2020 (UTC)