A- (3) prefix meaning "not," from Gk a-, an- "not," from pie base *ne "not" (see un-)

chartreuse --- type of liqueur, 1866, from monastery of Carthusian order, which was founded 11c. and named for the massif de la Chartreuse (M.L. Carthusianus) mountain group in the Fr. Alps, where its first monastery was built. The liqueur recipe dates from early 17c.; the original now marketed as Les Pères Chartreux. The color (1884) is so called from resemblance to the pale apple-green hue of the best type of the liqueur.

charwoman --- 1596, from M.E. char, cherre (see chore) + woman.

chary --- O.E. cearig "sorrowful" (see care). Sense evolved 16c. from "full of care" to "careful."

chase --- 1297, from O.Fr. chacier "to catch, seize," from V.L. *captiare (see catch). Meaning of "run after" developed c.1350. Chaser "water or mild beverage taken after a strong drink" is Amer.Eng. slang, first recorded 1897. Fr. chasse (from chasser "to chase") was a drink of liquor taken (or said to be taken) to kill the aftertaste of coffee or tobacco.

chasm --- 1596, from L. chasma, from Gk. khasma "yawning hollow, gulf," related to khaskein "to yawn," and thus to chaos.

chasseur --- 1796, Fr., lit. "huntsman" (see chase).

chassis --- base frame of an automobile, 1903, Amer.Eng.; earlier "window frame" (1664), from Fr. châssis "frame," from L. capsa "box, case" (see case (2)).

chaste --- c.1225, "virtuous, pure from unlawful sexual intercourse," from O.Fr. chaste "morally pure," from L. castus "pure, chaste" (see caste). Transferred sense of "Sexually pure" is first attested 1565, probably by influence of chastity.

chasten --- 1526, from obsolete chaste (v.), c.1200, from O.Fr. chastier (see chastize).

chastity --- c.1225, "virginity, celibacy," from O.Fr. chastité, from L. castitatem "purity," from castus (see caste).

chastize --- c.1303, earlier chastien (12c.), from O.Fr. chastier, from L. castigare "to punish," lit. "to make pure" (see castigate). "He alone may chastise who loves." [Rabindranath Tagore, "The Crescent Moon," 1913]

chat --- c.1440, short for chatter (q.v.). Chatty is first attested 1762.

chateaubriand --- grilled beef steak, garnished with herbs, 1877, named, for some reason, for Fr. writer François René, Vicomte de Chateaubriand (1768-1848).

chatelaine --- 1845, from Fr. châtelaine (fem. of châtelain) "a female castellan; mistress of a castle or country house."

chattel --- c.1225, chatel "property, goods," from O.Fr. chatel (see cattle, which is the Norman-Picard form of the same word). Application to slaves (1649) is a rhetorical figure of abolitionists, etc.

chatter --- c.1225, chateren "to twitter, gossip," earlier cheateren, chiteren, of echoic origin. Chatterbox is 1774.

Chaucer --- family name, from O.Fr. chaucier "maker of chausses," from O.Fr. chauces "clothing for the legs, breeches, pantaloons, hose" (related to case (2)). M.E. chawce was a general term for anything worn on the feet.

chauffeur --- 1899, originally "a motorist," from Fr., lit. "stoker," operator of a steam engine, Fr. nickname for early motorists, from chauffer "to heat," from O.Fr. chaufer (see chafe). The first motor-cars were steam-driven. Sense of "professional or paid driver of a private motor car" is from 1902. The verb is first attested 1917.

Chautauqua --- 1873, from town in N.Y., from ja'dahgweh, a Seneca (Iroquoian) name, possibly "one has taken out fish there," but an alternate suggested meaning is "raised body." Methodist summer colony there featured lectures from 1874.

chauvinism --- 1870, "exaggerated, blind patriotism," from Fr. chauvinisme (1843), from Nicholas Chauvin, soldier, possibly legendary, of Napoleon's Grand Armee, notoriously attached to the Empire long after it was history. Popularized in Fr. 1831 through Cogniard's vaudeville "La Cocarde Tricolore." Meaning extended to "sexism" via male chauvinism (1970). The name is a Fr. form of L. Calvinus and thus Calvinism and chauvinism are, etymologically, twins.

chaw --- 1530, unexplained phonetic variant of chew; the noun meaning "that which is chewed" (esp. a quid of tobacco) first recorded 1709.

cheap --- O.E. ceap (n.) "a purchase," from ceapian (v.) "trade," probably early Gmc. borrowing from L. caupo (gen. cauponis) "petty tradesman, huckster." Adj. sense of "that may be bought at small cost" first attested 1509, from god chep "favorable bargain," translation of Fr. a bon marche, a sense represented in O.E. by undeor. Sense of "lightly esteemed, common" is from 1591. Expression on the cheap is first attested 1888.

cheapskate --- miserly person, 1896, from cheap (q.v.), second element perhaps from Amer.Eng. slang skate "worn-out horse" (1894), of uncertain origin.

cheat --- c.1375, aphetic of O.Fr. escheat, legal term for revision of property to state when owner dies without heirs, lit. "that which falls to one," pp. of escheoir "befall by chance, happen, devolve," from V.L. *excadere "to fall away," from L. ex- "out" + cadere "to fall" (see case (1)). Meaning evolved through "confiscate" (c.1440) to "deprive unfairly" (1590). To cheat on (someone) "be sexually unfaithful" first recorded 1934.

check (n.) --- c.1314, from O.Fr. eschequier "a check at chess," from eschec, from V.L. *scaccus, from Arabic shah, from Pers. shah "king," the principal piece in a chess game (see shah). When the king is in check a player's choices are limited. Meaning widened from chess to general sense of "adverse event, sudden stoppage" and by c.1700 to "a token used to check against loss or theft" (surviving in hat check) and "a check against forgery or alteration," which gave the modern financial use of "bank check, money draft" (first recorded 1798), probably influenced by exchequeur. Check-up "careful examination" is 1921, Amer.Eng., on notion of a checklist of things to be examined.

checker --- c.1314, "a chessboard," aphetic of O.Fr. eschekier "chessboard," from M.L. scaccarium (see check). British prefers chequer, but the U.S. form is more authentic. Checkers, Amer.Eng. name for the game known in Britain as draughts, dates from 1712. Checkered "marked like a chessboard" is from 1486.

checkmate --- c.1346, from O.Fr. eschec mat, ult. from Pers. shah mat, lit. "the king is left helpless," from shah "king" + mat "he is dead."

cheddar --- 1661 (but the cheese was presumably made long before that), from Cheddar, a village in Somerset, England, where it was originally made, from O.E. Ceodre (c.880), probably from ceodor "ravine" (there is a nearby gorge).

cheek --- O.E. ceace, cece "jaw, jawbone," also "the fleshy wall of the mouth," from W.Gmc. *kaukon, not found outside W.Gmc. Sense of "insolence" is from 1840; cheeky first attested 1859. Cheeks "the buttocks" is from c.1600. To turn the other cheek is an allusion to Matt. v.39 and Luke vi.29.

cheep (v.) --- 1513, of imitative origin, originally Scottish.

cheer --- c.1225, from Anglo-Norm. chere "the face," from O.Fr. chiere, from L.L. cara "face," from Gk. kara "head," from PIE base *ker- "head." Already by M.E. meaning had extended metaphorically to "mood, demeanor, mental condition" as reflected in the face. Could be in a good or bad sense ("The feend ... beguiled her with treacherye, and brought her into a dreerye cheere," "Merline," c.1500), but positive sense has predominated since c.1400. Meaning "shout of encouragement" first recorded 1720, perhaps nautical slang (earlier "to encourage by words or deeds," c.1430). Cheer up (intrans.) first attested 1676. Cheers as a salute or toast when taking a drink is British, 1919. The old English greeting what cheer was picked up by Algonquian Indians of southern New England from the Puritans and spread in Indian languages as far as Canada. Cheerleader first recorded 1903, Amer.Eng. Cheerful is from c.1400.

cheese --- O.E. cyse, from W.Gmc. *kasjus, from L. caseus "cheese," from PIE base *kwat- "to ferment, become sour." Earliest refs. would be to compressed curds of milk used as food; pressed or molded cheeses with rinds are 14c. Fr. fromage is from M.L. formaticum, from L. forma "shape, form, mold." As a photographer's word to make subjects hold a smile, it is attested from 1930, but in a reminiscence of schoolboy days, which suggests an earlier use. Cheeseburger first attested 1938. Cheesecake (c.1440) is first recorded 1934 in slang sense of "photograph of sexy young women." To make cheeses was a schoolgirls' amusement (1835) of wheeling rapidly so one's petticoats blew out in a circle then dropping down so they came to rest inflated and resembling a wheel of cheese; hence, used figuratively for "a deep curtsey."

cheesy --- cheap, inferior, 1896, from Urdu chiz "a thing," picked up by British in India by 1818 and used in the sense of "a big thing." By 1858, cheesy had evolved a slang meaning of "showy," which led to the modern, ironic sense. Cheesed "disgruntled, exasperated," is from 1941, British slang, but the connection is uncertain.

cheetah --- 1704, from Hindi chita "leopard," from Skt. chitraka "leopard," lit. "speckled," from citra-s "distinctively marked, bright, clear."

chef --- 1826, from Fr. chef de cuisine, lit. "head of the kitchen," from O.Fr. chief "leader, ruler, head" (see chief).

Cheka --- early Soviet secret police, 1921, from Rus. initials of Chrezvychainaya Komissiya "Extraordinary Commission (for Combating Counter-Revolution);" set up 1917, superseded 1922 by G.P.U.

chemical --- 1576, from chemic "of alchemy" (a worn-down derivative of M.L. alchimicus) + -al suffix forming adjectives (see alchemy). Chemist (1562) was originally "alchemist;" in scientific sense 1626; in Britain, the preferred term for "dealer in medicinal drugs," first recorded in this sense 1802.

chemise --- c.1050, cemes, from O.Fr., from L.L. camisia "shirt, tunic" (c.400 C.E.), first used as a soldier's word, probably via Gaulish, from P.Gmc. *khamithjan (cf. Ger. hemd "shirt"), from PIE base *kem- "to cover, cloak." The Fr. form took over after c.1200.

chemistry --- 1605 (see chemical), originally "alchemy;" the meaning "natural physical process" is 1646, and the scientific study not so called until 1788. The figurative sense of "instinctual attraction or affinity" is older, c.1600, from the alchemical sense.

chemotherapy --- 1907, from Ger. Chemotherapie, coined by Ger. biochemist Paul Ehrlich, from chemo- (see chemical) + therapie (see therapy).

chenille --- 1738, from Fr. "caterpillar," lit. "little dog," from L. canicula, dim. of canis "dog" (see canine).

cherchez la femme --- Fr., lit. "seek the woman," on the notion that a woman is the cause for whatever crime has been committed, first used by Alexandre Dumas père in "Les Mohicans de Paris" (1864) in the form cherchons la femme.

cherish --- c.1320, from O.Fr. chériss-, extended stem of chérir "to hold dear," from cher "dear," from L. carus (see whore).

Cherokee --- 1674, from Cherokee Tsaragi.

cheroot --- c.1670, probably from Port. charuto "cigar," from Tamil curuttu "roll" (of tobacco), from curul "to roll."

cherry --- 1236, from Anglo-Fr. cherise (taken as a pl.), from O.N.Fr. cherise, from V.L. *ceresia, from late Gk. kerasian "cherry," from Gk. kerasos "cherry tree," possibly from a language of Asia Minor. O.E. had ciris "cherry" from W.Gmc. form of the V.L. word, but it died out after the Norman invasion and was replaced by the French word. Meaning "maidenhead, virginity" is from 1889, U.S. slang, from supposed resemblance to the hymen, but perhaps also from the long-time use of cherries as a symbol of the fleeting quality of life's pleasures. Cherry-pick, in a pejorative sense, first recorded 1972.

Chersonese --- from Gk. khersonesos "peninsula," from khersos "dry land" + nesos "island."

chert --- flint-like quartz, 1679, of unknown origin.

cherub --- c.1367, as an order of angels, from L.L. cherub, from Gk. cheroub, from Heb. kerubh (pl. kerubhim), perhaps related to Akkadian karubu "gracious, one who blesses," an epithet of the bull-colossus.

Chesapeake --- from an Algonquian language, perhaps lit. "great shellfish bay." Early spellings include Chesepiooc and Chesupioc.

chess --- 13c., from O.Fr. esches pl. of eschec (see check), from the key move of the game. The original word for "chess" is Skt. chaturanga "four members of an army" -- elephants, horses, chariots, foot soldiers. This is preserved in Sp. ajedrez, from Arabic (al) shat-ranj, from Pers. chatrang, from the Skt. word.

chest --- O.E. cest "box, coffer," from P.Gmc. *kista, an early borrowing from L. cista, from Gk. kiste "a box, basket," from PIE *kista "woven container." Meaning extended to "thorax" 1530, replacing breast, on the metaphor of the ribs as a box for the organs. Chest of drawers is from 1599.

Chester --- Cestre (1086), from O.E. Legacæstir (735) "City of the Legions," from O.E. ceaster "Roman town or city." It was the base of the Second Legion Adiutrix in the 70s C.E. and later the 20th Legion Valeria Victrix. But the town's name in Roman times was Deoua (c.150 C.E.), from its situation on the River Dee, a Celtic river name meaning "the goddess, the holy one." Cheshire cat and its proverbial grin attested from 1770, of unknown origin.

chestnut --- 1570, from chesten nut (1519), from M.E. chasteine, from O.Fr. chastaigne, from L. castanea, from Gk. kastaneia, which the Greeks thought meant either "nut from Castanea" in Pontus, or "nut from Castana" in Thessaly, but probably both places are named for the trees, not the other way around, and the word is probably borrowed from a language of Asia Minor. Of the dark reddish-brown color, 1656. Applied to the horse-chestnut 1832. Slang sense of "venerable joke or story" is from 1886, probably from a joke (first recorded 1888) based on an oft-repeated story in which a chestnut tree figures. The key part of the 1888 citation is: "When suddenly from the thick boughs of a cork-tree --" "A chestnut, Captain; a chestnut." "Bah! booby, I say a cork-tree!" "A chestnut," reiterates Pablo. "I should know as well as you, having heard you tell the tale these twenty-seven times."

chetnik --- 1909, "member of a Balkan guerrilla force," from Serb. cetnik, from ceta "band, troop."

cheval de frise --- 1688, from Fr., lit. "horse of Frisia," because it was first employed there as a defense against cavalry. Plural chevaux de frise.

chevron --- 1395, from O.Fr. chevron "rafter," since it looks like rafters of a shallow roof, from V.L. *caprione, from L. caper "goat," the likely connection between goats and rafters being the animal's angular hind legs.

chew --- O.E. ceowan "to bite, chew," from W.Gmc. *keuwjanan, from PIE base *gjeu- "to chew." To chew (someone) out is military slang from World War II. Chewing gum is 1850, Amer.Eng., originally hardened secretions of the spruce tree.

Cheyenne --- 1778, from Fr. Canadian, from Dakota Sahi'yena, a dim. of Sahi'ya, a Dakotan name for the Cree people.

chianti --- 1833, from Chianti Mountains of Tuscany, where the wine was made.

chiaroscuro --- 1686, "disposition of light and dark in a picture," lit. "bright-dark," from It. chiaro (from L. clarus) + oscuro (from L. obscurus).

chic --- 1856, from Fr., originally "subtlety," perhaps related to Ger. schick "tact, skill," from M.L.G. schikken "arrange appropriately;" or from Fr. chicane, from chicanerie (see chicanery).

Chicago --- town founded in 1833, named from a Canadian Fr. form of an Algonquian word, either Fox /sheka:ko:heki "place of the wild onion," or Ojibwa shika:konk "at the skunk place" (sometimes rendered "place of the bad smell"). The Ojibwa "skunk" word is distantly related to the New England Algonquian word that yielded Mod. Eng. skunk.

chicanery --- 1609, from Fr. chicanerie "trickery," from M.Fr. chicaner "to pettifog, quibble," perhaps from M.L.G. schikken "to arrange, bring about," or from the name of a golf-like game once played in Languedoc.

Chicano --- 1947 (n.), from Mex.Sp. dialectal pronunciation of Mexicano "Mexican," with loss of initial unaccented syllable. Probably infl. by Sp. chico "boy," also used as a nickname. The adj. is first attested 1967.

chick --- c.1320, abbreviation of chicken (q.v.), extended to human offspring (often in alliterative pairing chick and child) and used as a term of endearment. As slang for "young woman" it is first recorded 1927 (in "Elmer Gantry"), supposedly from U.S. black slang, in British use by c.1940, popularized by Beatniks late 1950s. Chicken in this sense is from 1711. Sometimes c.1600-1900 chicken was taken as a plural, chick as a singular (cf. child/children) for the domestic fowl.

chickadee --- 1838, Amer.Eng., echoic of its cry.

Chickasaw --- 1674, from Chickasaw Chikasha, the people's name for themselves.

chicken --- O.E. cycen "young fowl," which in M.E. came to mean "young chicken," then any chicken, from W.Gmc. *kiukinam, from base *keuk- (possibly root of cock, of echoic origin) + dim. suffix. Sense of "cowardly" is at least as old as 14c.; the v. meaning "to back down or fail through cowardice" is from 1943, U.S. slang; as a game of danger to test courage, it is first recorded 1953. Chicken hawk "public person who advocates war but who declined significant opportunity to serve in uniform during wartime" is attested from at least 1988, Amer.Eng. Chicken pox (c.1730) may be a disparaging name because of their mildness compared to smallpox. Chicken feed "paltry sum of money" is from 1904. Chickweed (c.1440) was in O.E. cicene mete "chicken food."

chick-pea --- 1712, false singular back-formation from chich-pease (1548), from Fr. pois chiche, from L. cicer "pea." (for second element, see pease).

chicory --- 1393, from M.Fr. cichorée, from L. cichoreum, from Gk. kikhorion (pl. kikhoreia) "endive," of unknown origin. Klein suggests a connection with O.Egyptian keksher.

chide --- c.1175, "scold, nag, rail," originally intransitive, from O.E. cidan "quarrel." Only in English.

chief --- 1297 (n. and adj.), from O.Fr. chief "leader, ruler, head" (of something), from L.L. capum, from L. caput "head" (see head).

chieftain --- c.1325, from O.Fr. chevetain, from L.L. capitaneus "commander," from L. capitis, gen. of caput "head" (see head). According to "Rob Roy" (1818) a Highland chieftain was the head of a branch of a clan, a chief was the head of the whole name.

chiffon --- 1765, from Fr., dim. of chiffe "a rag, piece of cloth," perhaps a variant of Eng. chip. Extension to pastry is 1929.

chigger --- 1756, from W.Indies chigoe (1668), possibly from Carib, or of African origin (cf. Wolof and Yoruba jiga "insect").

Chihuahua --- dog breed, 1858, from the city and state in Mexico, said to be from a lost native word that meant "dry place."

chilblain --- 1547, from chill + blain, from O.E. blegen "a sore," from P.Gmc. *blajinon.

child --- O.E. cild "child," from P.Gmc. *kiltham (source of Gothic kilþei "womb"), unrelated to other languages. Also in O.E. meaning "a youth of gentle birth" (archaic, usually written childe). In 16c., especially "girl child." The difficulty with the plural began in O.E., where the nom. pl. was at first cild, identical with the sing., then c.975 pl. form cildru (gen. cildra) arose, only to be re-pluraled c.1175 as children, which is thus a double plural. M.E. plural cildre survives in Lancashire dialect childer and in Childermas (c.1000) "festival of the Holy Innocents" (Dec. 28). Childhood is O.E. cildhad; childish is O.E. cildisc; childlike (a good-sense variant) is first attested 1586.

Chile --- S.Amer. country, probably named from a local native word subsequently confused with Mex.Sp. chile "chili pepper" (see chili). Suggestions are that the native word means "land's end" or else "cold, winter," which would make a coincidental identity with Eng. chilly.

chili --- 1662, from Nahuatl cilli, native name for the peppers. Not named for the South American country.

chiliasm --- 1610, from Gk. khiliasmos, from khilias, from khilioi "a thousand." The doctrine of the millennium, the opinion that Christ will reign in bodily presence on earth for 1,000 years.

chill (n.) --- O.E. ciele, cele "cold," from P.Gmc. *kal- "to be cold," from PIE base *gel- "cold." The verb (both lit. and figurative) is 14c., from the noun. Meaning "hang out" first recorded 1985; from earlier (1979) sense of chill out "relax." Chilly "feeling rather cold" is from 1611.

chime --- c.1300, from L. cymbalum (see cymbal, which is what the word originally meant), perhaps through O.Fr. chimbe or directly from L. as O.E. cimbal, either one likely misinterpreted as chymbe bellen "chime bells."

chimera --- 1382, from L. Chimaera, from Gk. chimaira, a fabulous monster (with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail), supposedly personification of snow or winter, orig. "year-old she-goat," from cheima "winter season." Meaning "wild fantasy" first recorded 1587. "Beestis clepid chymeres, that han a part of ech beest, and suche ben not, no but oonly in opynyoun." [Wyclif, "Prologue"]

chimney --- c.1280, from O.Fr. cheminee "fire place," from L.L. caminata "fireplace, room with a fireplace," from L. caminatus, adj. of caminus "hearth, oven, flue," from Gk. kaminos "furnace."

chimpanzee --- 1738, from a Bantu language of Angola (cf. Tshiluba kivili-chimpenze "ape"). Short form chimp first attested 1877.

chin --- O.E. cin, a general Gmc. word, from PIE base *genw- "chin, jawbone."

china --- porcelain imported from China, 1579, from the country name (1555), probably ult. from Skt. Cina-s "the Chinese" (earliest European usage is in It., by Marco Polo), perhaps from Qin dynasty, which ruled 3c. B.C.E. Latinized as Sina, hence sinologist. The Chinese word for the country is Chung-kuo, lit. "the Middle Kingdom." Chinatown first attested 1857 in California.

chinch --- 1616, from Sp./Port. chinche (dim. chinchilla) "bug," from L. cimex (acc. cimicem) "bedbug."

chinchilla --- 1593, from Sp., lit. "little bug" (see chinch); probably an alteration of a word from Quechua or Aymara.

chink --- slit, 1535, from M.E. chine (with parasitic -k) from O.E. cinu "fissure," related to cinan "to crack, split, gape," from PIE base *gei-, *gi- "to germinate, bloom," connection being in the notion of bursting open. The unrelated derogatory slang word for "a Chinaman" first recorded 1901.

Chinook --- name for a group of related native people in the Columbia River region of Washington and Oregon, from Salishan /cinuk/, name of a village site. Name also extended to a type of salmon and warm spring wind. Chinook jargon was a mish-mash of native, French, and English words once used as a lingua franca in the Pacific Northwest.

chinos --- (pl.) 1943, from Amer.Sp. chino "toasted," earlier (via notion of skin color) "child of one white parent, one Indian" (fem. china), from Quechua china "female animal, servant."

chintz --- 1719, pl. of chint (1614), from Hindi chint, from Skt. chitra-s "clear, bright." The plural (the more common form of the word in commercial use) became regarded as singular by late 18c., and for unknown reason shifted -s to -z; perhaps after quartz. Disparaging sense (in form chintzy), from the commonness of the fabric, is first recorded 1851 in George Eliot.

chip (v.) --- O.E. forcippian "to pare away by cutting," v. form of cipp "small piece of wood," perhaps from PIE base *keipo- "sharp post" (cf. Du. kip "small strip of wood," L. cippus "post, stake, beam"). Sense of "break off fragments" is 18c. Noun is attested by c.1330; meaning "counter used in a game of chance" is first recorded 1840; electronics sense is from 1962. Used for thin slices of foodstuffs (originally fruit) since 1769; specific ref. to potatoes is from 1859 (in "A Tale of Two Cities"); potato chip is attested by 1886. Meaning "piece of dried dung" first attested 1846. To chip in "contribute" (1861) may come from card-playing. Potato chip is 1859. Chip of the old block is used by Milton (1642); earlier form was chip of the same block (1621); more common modern phrase with off in place of of is early 20c. To have a chip on one's shoulder is from at least 1820s, U.S., from the custom of a boy determined to fight putting a chip on his shoulder and defying another to knock it off. Chip in "contribute" is 1861, Amer.Eng.