After first appearing in English in 1948, the Chinese dim sum, the name of bitesized dumplings filled with seafood and meat, went through numerous spellings—including deem sum, tim-sam, dim sim, and tim sun—before returndessert ing to its original form, dim sum, in the early 1980s. Translated literally, the name means speck heart, but more idiomatically the phrase suggests a little something that “touches” your heart and invigorates it.