"C" Word Origins

change

Latin

From Old French changier, from Latin cambiare ("to exchange, barter"), related to the noun cambium.

changeable

Late Latin

From Old French chaungeable, from Late Latin cambiare ("to change") plus the suffix -able.

changeful

Origin

From change + -ful.

changeling

Origin

From change + the suffix -ling, which often denotes something small or immature.

changeover

Origin

Deverbal from change over.

changer

Middle English

From Middle English chaungere, from change + the agent suffix -er.

channel

Latin

From Old French chanel, from Latin canalis ("groove, canal") — a doublet of "canal."

chant

Latin

From Old French chanter, from Latin cantare ("to sing") — a doublet of "cant."

Chantal

French

Borrowed from French Chantal, from the surname of Baroness Jeanne de Chantal, a place name derived from Old Occitan cantal ("stone, rubblestone").

chantard

Origin

Modeled after /b/tard. From 4chan and "chan"-named imageboards. From chan + -tard.

Chantelle

Origin

An English variant of Chantal.

chanter

Origin

From Middle English chauntour, from Old French chanteor, from Latin cantor; equivalent to chant + -er. Compare French chanteur. Doublet of cantor.

chanticleer

Origin

] From Middle English Chauntecleer, from Old French Chantecler (modern French Chanteclair), the proper name of the cock in the literary cycle of Reynard the Fox, that also gave origin to chantecler, the name of a chicken breed; from chanter (“to sing, to crow”) + cler (“clear, clearly”). Attested in English since 1250–1300.

chanting

Middle English

From Middle English chauntynge; equivalent to chant + -ing.

chantress

Origin

From Middle English chaunteresse, from Old French chanteresse; equivalent to chanter + -ess.

chantry

Old French

From Old French chanterie, from chanter ("to sing").

Chao

Origin

From Mandarin Zhào, in the Wade-Giles romanization Chao.

chaos

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek khaos, meaning "vast chasm" or "void" — the formless emptiness that existed before creation in Greek myth.

chaotic

Late Latin

From chaos + the adjective-forming ending -otic, via Late Latin chaoticus.

chap

Origin

Shortened from chapman, an old word for a travelling trader or dealer.

chaparral

Origin

From Spanish chaparral, from chaparro (“evergreen oak”) + -al, from Basque txaparro, from txapar, from sapar.

chapel

Late Latin

From Old French chapele, from Late Latin cappella ("little cloak"), originally referring to the shrine that housed St Martin's cloak.

chaperon

French

From French chaperon, originally a type of hood, from chape ("cape, hood").

chaperone

French

The now-standard spelling of chaperon, from French chaperon ("hood").

Chapin

Origin

* As a Spanish and French surname, from the noun chapín (“type of overshoe”). * As an English surname, variant of Chopin, also found as the variants Chopping, Chappin.

chapiter

Origin

From Middle English chapitre, from Old French chapitre, from Latin capitulum, diminutive of caput (“head”). Doublet of chapter and capitulum.

chaplain

Late Latin

From Middle English chapeleyn, via Old French chapelain, tracing back to Late Latin cappellanus — originally someone who cared for a saint's relic (cappella, "little cloak"), which also gave us the word "chapel."

chaplet

Origin

From Middle English chapelet, from Old French chapelet. Doublet of chapelet.

Chaplin

Middle English

As a surname, from Middle English "chapelain" (chaplain), an occupational name; the protein term borrows the surname (echoing Charlie Chaplin) as a scientific label.

Chapman

Middle English

From Middle English chapman ("trader"), a compound of cheap (in its old sense of "buying and selling," as in Cheapside) and man. It shares this root with the surnames Kaufman and Koopman.

chappy

Origin

From chap + the diminutive/informal suffix -y.

chapri

Origin

Borrowed from Hindi छपरी (chaprī).

chaps

Spanish

Shortened from the American Spanish chaparreras, itself related to chaparral, the low, thorny scrub the leggings were designed to protect against.

chapstick

Origin

From the brand name ChapStick, itself formed from chap (as in chapped skin) + stick.

chapter

Latin

From Old French chapitre, from Latin capitulum ("a chapter of a book"), a diminutive of caput ("head") — the same root as "capital".

char

Origin

A back-formation from charcoal, formed by dropping the -coal ending.

charabanc

Origin

Borrowed from French char-à-bancs (literally “carriage with benches”).

character

Ancient Greek

From Old French caractere, from Latin character, from Ancient Greek kharaktēr, meaning "an engraved mark" — from kharassō, "to engrave" or "to scratch a mark".

characteristic

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek kharaktēristikos ("marked by a distinguishing feature"), from kharaktēr ("a mark, character").

characterize

Ancient Greek

From Medieval Latin characterizo, from Ancient Greek kharaktērizō, "to mark with a distinguishing feature", from kharaktēr ("character").

charade

French

From French charade, probably from Occitan charrada ("chat, chatter"), from charrar ("to chat").

charades

French

From French charade; the plural form became fixed as the name of the acting game.

charbon

Origin

Borrowed from French charbon (“coal; anthrax”).

charcoal

Middle English

From Middle English charcole, likely combining char ("to turn or char") with cole ("coal").

charcuterie

French

From French charcuterie, from chair cuite 'cooked flesh', originally the trade of the pork butcher.

chard

Latin

From earlier "carde", reshaped under the influence of "cardoon", ultimately from Latin carduus ("thistle").

Chardonnay

Origin

Named after the village of Chardonnay in the Mâconnais region of France, believed to be where the grape variety originated.

chare

Origin

From Middle English chare, variant (due to the verb form charen) of char, cher (“a turn”), from Old English ċierr, ċerr (“a turn, change, time, occasion, affair, business”), from Proto-Germanic *karzijaną (“to turn, sweep”), from Proto-Indo-European *gers- (“to turn, bend”). More at char.