"C" Word Origins

chastise

Latin

From Old French chastier, from Latin castigare — related to "chasten" and "castigate."

chastisement

Origin

Old French chastiement, from the verb chastier, from Latin castīgō

chastity

Latin

From Old French chasteté, from Latin castitas — related to "chaste."

chasuble

Origin

From Middle English chesible, from Old French chesible, from Late Latin casubla, an alteration of Latin casula (“little cottage, hooded cloak”), a diminutive of casa (“house”).

chat

Origin

A shortening of "chatter," originally describing idle talk.

chatbot

Origin

From chat + -bot, from earlier chatterbot.

chatelain

Origin

From Middle English chateleyn, from Middle French chatelaine, from Old French chastelein and castelain (“castellan”), from chastel and castel (“castle”) + -ain (“-an: forming adj.”), from Medieval Latin castellum, from Latin castrum (“fort”) + -ellum (“-elle: forming diminutives”). Doublet of Castilian, castellano, castellanus, and castellan.

Chatham

Old English

From an Old Welsh word for "wood" plus Old English hām, "home."

chatra

Origin

From Sanskrit छत्र (chatra), variant of छत्त्र (chattra, “umbrella, parasol, chatra”). Doublet of chador and chatta.

chatta

Origin

From Hindi छाता (chātā), from Sanskrit छत्त्र (chattra, “umbrella, parasol, chatra”). Doublet of chador and chatra.

Chattanooga

Origin

From a Muskogean word meaning "rock," combined with a suffix meaning "dwelling-place."

chattel

Old French

From Old French chatel meaning property or goods, from Latin capitale, capital; it is a doublet of both cattle and capital.

chatter

Middle English

From Middle English chateren, an imitative word mimicking the sound of rapid, repetitive noise — the same root behind similar words in Dutch and German for chattering.

chatterbag

Origin

From chatter + bag.

chatterbox

Origin

From chatter + box, on the pattern of other informal compound nicknames like "know-it-all".

Chatterjee

Origin

Anglicization of Bengali চাটুজ্জে (caṭujje).

chatty

Origin

From chat ("informal talk") + the adjective-forming suffix -y.

Chaucer

Old French

From Old French chaucier, "hose-maker, hosier."

chauffeur

French

Borrowed from French chauffeur, literally "one who heats" — from the days of steam-powered cars, when the driver had to stoke the engine.

Chauhan

Sanskrit

Borrowed from Hindi चौहान (cauhān), from Sanskrit cāhamāna.

Chauncey

French

From a Norman name based on the French place name Chancé.

chauvinism

Origin

Borrowed from French chauvinisme (“idealistic devotion to Napoleon”), named for Nicolas Chauvin, a legendary and excessively patriotic soldier of the French First Republic. The figure of Chauvin became especially famous as a character in the play La Cocarde Tricolore by the Cogniard brothers.

chauvinist

French

Named after Nicolas Chauvin, a (possibly legendary) French soldier famous for his fanatical devotion to Napoleon; the word later broadened from extreme patriotism to any excessive, biased loyalty, especially "male chauvinist" for sexist men.

chav

Origin

Origin uncertain; probably of Angloromani origin. Compare Romani chavi (“male child”) or ćhavo, shavo (“female child”), chal (“boy”), chavvy (“mate, friend”), compare Swedish tjej; possibly cognate with Portuguese chavalo, Spanish chaval, German Chabo, Russian чувак (čuvak), Hungarian csávó. See also charva. Derivations from council-housed and violent, Cheltenham average (and similar) are folk-etymological backronyms.

chava

Origin

From Hebrew חַוָּה (khavá, “Eve”).

chaver

Origin

Borrowed from Hebrew חָבֵר (chavér, “friend”). Doublet of gabber.

Chavez

Spanish

From Spanish Chávez, a variant of Chaves.

chavista

Origin

Borrowed from Spanish chavista.

chawbacon

Origin

From chaw + bacon.

Chaz

Origin

Originally an abbreviation of Charles, from "Chas."

chazza

Origin

From Charlotte + -zza.

che

Russian

Borrowed from Russian "че" (če).

cheap

Old English

From Old English cēap, meaning "trade" or "market price." The adjective sense grew out of the old phrase "good cheap," meaning "a good bargain" — over time "cheap" alone came to mean low-priced.

cheapass

Origin

From cheap + -ass.

cheapen

Origin

From cheap + -en.

cheapie

Origin

From cheap + -ie.

cheapskate

Origin

From cheap + an old slang word skate, meaning a contemptible or worthless person.

cheat

Old French

Ultimately from Old French escheat ("property that reverts to the state") — the sense shifted over time from an official legal term to the idea of unfairly taking something that isn't rightfully yours.

cheater

Origin

From cheat + the agent suffix -er.

Chechen

Russian

From the Russian root čečen-, found in words like čečénec ("a Chechen man").

Chechnya

Russian

From Russian Chechnya, meaning roughly "[land] of the Chechens", ultimately traced to a Circassian source.

check

Old French

Traces back through Old French eschec to Arabic and Persian words for "king" used in chess to announce a threatened king — the same root gives us "chess" and "checkmate." The sense of "stop" or "verify" grew out of the idea of halting an opponent's move.

checkbox

Origin

From check + box.

checker

Origin

From check + the agent suffix -er.

checkerberry

Origin

From the chequer tree, which has fruits of a similar appearance.

checkerboard

Origin

From checker + board.

checklist

Origin

From check + list.

checkmate

Old French

From Old French eschec mat, ultimately from Persian shah mat, meaning "the king is helpless" or "the king is stunned."