"C" Word Origins

checkout

Origin

Formed from the phrasal verb check out.

checkpoint

Origin

From check + point.

checkup

Origin

A compound of check and up, describing the act of "checking up" on someone or something.

Cheddar

Origin

Named after Cheddar, a village in Somerset, England, where the cheese was first made.

chee

Origin

The "cheetah" sense comes from clipping the word down to its first syllable.

Cheech

Origin

From the abbreviation "Chch."

cheek

Old English

From Old English ceace/ceoce, meaning "cheek" or "jaw", related to Dutch kaak and German Kiefer-type words for jaw.

cheekbone

Old English

A straightforward compound of cheek and bone, dating back to Old English ceacban.

cheeky

Origin

Formed from cheek (in the sense of impudence) plus the adjective-forming suffix -y.

cheep

Origin

An onomatopoeic word — it was formed to imitate the sound itself.

cheer

Old French

From Old French chiere, meaning "face" or "expression", which came to mean a person's mood and later shifted to mean encouragement and good spirits.

cheerful

Middle English

From Middle English chereful, built from cheer (mood) plus the suffix -ful.

cheerfully

Origin

Formed from cheerful plus the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

cheerfulness

Origin

From Middle English cherefulnes; equivalent to cheerful + -ness.

cheerio

Origin

Formed from cheer or cheery plus the informal ending -o, in the same pattern as words like "righto".

Cheerios

Origin · 1941

Launched in 1941 as "Cheerioats" — a blend of "cheery" and "oats" — then shortened to Cheerios in 1945 after Quaker Oats objected to a competitor using "oats" in its name.

cheerleader

Origin

A compound of cheer and leader — literally, someone who leads the cheering.

cheerleading

Origin

From cheerlead plus the suffix -ing.

cheerly

Origin

From cheer + -ly.

cheery

Middle English

From Middle English cheri, built from cheer plus -y.

cheese

Latin

From Old English cīese, ultimately from Latin cāseus ("cheese"), the same root that gives Spanish queso.

cheeseburger

Origin · 1928

A blend of cheese and hamburger, first recorded around 1928.

cheesecake

Middle English

From Middle English chesekake, a compound of cheese and cake.

cheeses

Origin

The plant sense comes from the fruit's resemblance to small rounds of cheese.

cheesy

Origin

From cheese plus the adjective suffix -y.

cheetah

Sanskrit

Borrowed from Hindi चीता (cītā), ultimately from Sanskrit citra ("spotted, multicolored"), a reference to the animal's coat.

Cheetos

Origin

A brand name likely based on cheese, with an -os ending matching sibling snacks like Fritos and Doritos.

chef

Old French

Borrowed from French chef ("head, leader"), from Old French chief; the same root gives English "chief" and "captain".

cheka

Origin

From the Russian pronunciation of ЧК (ČK), abbreviation of Чрезвыча́йная Коми́ссия (Črezvyčájnaja Komíssija, “extraordinary commission”).

Chekhov

Russian

Borrowed from Russian Чехов (Čéxov), literally meaning "Czech."

chela

Origin

From Latin chele, from Ancient Greek χηλή (khēlḗ).

chelonian

Origin

Chelonia + -an

chelp

Origin

Probably of imitative origin; perhaps from ch(irp) + (y)elp.

Chelsea

Old English

From Old English words meaning roughly "chalk landing place", referring to the riverbank where chalk was once unloaded.

chemic

Origin

From New Latin chemicus, chimicus, chymicus.

chemical

New Latin

From New Latin chemicus plus the adjective suffix -al, tracing back through alchemy to Arabic al-kīmiyāʔ.

chemically

Origin

From chemical plus the adverb suffix -ly.

chemise

Origin

From French chemise, from Old French chemise, from Late Latin camisa, camisia ("shirt, undergarment, nightgown"; whence Old English cemes (“shirt”)), from Proto-West Germanic *hamiþi (“shirt”) (whence Old English hemeþe, Old High German hemidi, modern German Hemd (“shirt”)), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱam- (“cover, clothes”). Cognate also with Saterland Frisian Hoamd (“shirt”), Dutch hemd (“shirt”), Old English ham (“undergarment”), hama (“covering, dress, garment”). See also shimmy, from a dialectal variant. More at hame.

chemist

Medieval Latin

Borrowed from French chimiste, from Medieval Latin chimista, going back through alchimista to Arabic al-kīmiyāʔ.

chemistry

Ancient Greek

Traces back through alchemy to Arabic al-kīmiyāʔ, itself rooted in Ancient Greek khumeia ("art of alloying metals").

chemotherapy

Ancient Greek

A blend of chemo- (from "chemical") and therapy, itself from Ancient Greek therapeia ("treatment").

Chen

Chinese

From Mandarin Chén (陳/陈); related to the surnames Tan, Chan, and Tran, which come from the same Chinese character in different dialects.

Cheney

Origin

A variant of the surname Chesney.

Cheng

Origin

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 程 (Chéng).

Chennai

Origin · 1996

From the Tamil name Chennai, adopted officially in 1996 to replace the colonial-era name Madras.

Cheon

Korean

Borrowed from Korean 천 (Cheon).

Cheong

Origin

From various Chinese surnames, such as Cantonese 張／张 (zoeng¹) or 蔣／蒋 (zoeng²), Hokkien 鍾／钟 (Chiong).

cheque

Old French · 1790

From the same root as "check" — via Old French eschec back to Persian shah ("king"), the word used in chess. "Cheque" is simply the British spelling that split off from "check" in the 1790s, partly by influence of "exchequer."