A bowl shaped cooking vessel used especially in the preparation of Chinese foods.
The wok, a Chinese cooking utensil shaped like a huge contact lens, was first referred to in English in 1952, became a culinary craze in the late 1970s, and was relegated in the mid 1980s (by most people) to the top shelf of the cupboard along with the fondue pot, another victim of its own success. Wok derives from a Cantonese word meaning pan.