"C" Word Origins

chica

Spanish

Borrowed directly from Spanish chica, meaning "girl."

Chicago

French

From French Chécagou, a rendering of a Native Miami word for a wild leek or onion plant that grew along the local river — making "Chicago" a distant relative of the English word "skunk."

chicane

Origin

Borrowed from French chicane.

chicanery

Origin

From French chicanerie (“trickery”), from chicaner, from Middle French chicaner, borrowed from Middle Low German schicken, from Old Saxon *skikkian, from Proto-West Germanic *skikkijan (“to order, arrange”). Related to German schicken (“to send, ship”), Middle English skekken (“to send forth, issue”).

chicha

Origin

Borrowed from Spanish chicha, from Kuna chichab (“corn”).

chichi

French

Borrowed from French chichi, a word for fussy, affected style.

chick

Old English · 1800

From Old English ċicen, the same root that gave us "chicken"; the "young woman" sense developed in slang around the mid-1800s.

chickadee

Origin

Apparent onomatopoeia from these birds' calls having a distinctive “chick-a-dee-dee-dee” sound, possibly influenced by chick or chicken.

chicken

Old English

From Old English ċicen, of uncertain deeper origin, possibly related to "cock." The "coward" meaning is a much later figurative extension.

chickenshit

Origin · 1900

A blend of "chicken" (coward) and "shit," used as a coarse intensifier since at least the mid-20th century, originally in US military slang.

chickie

Origin

A diminutive form of "chick," formed with the informal -ie ending.

chickpea

Origin

Calque of French pois chiche, from pois (“pea”) + chiche, from Old French cice, from Latin cicer (“chickpea”).

chicky

Origin

A diminutive form of "chick," formed with the informal -y ending.

chico

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish chico ("small; boy"), also used as a diminutive nickname for "Francisco."

chicory

Ancient Greek

Traces back through Old French and Latin to Ancient Greek kíkhora, the name for the same plant.

chide

Old English

From Old English cīdan, meaning "to reproach or quarrel" — the word has kept roughly the same meaning for over a thousand years.

chief

Latin

Ultimately from Latin caput ("head"), by way of Old French chief — making "chief" a distant cousin of "captain," "cap," and even "head" itself.

chiefly

Origin

Formed from "chief" plus the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

chieftain

Latin

From Old French chevetaine, from Latin capitaneus ("head, chief") — the same root that gave English "captain."

Chien

Chinese

From Chinese 簡／简 (Jiǎn), 檢／检 (Jiǎn), or 劍／剑 (Jiàn). Alternatively, from 錢／钱 (Qián), 千 (Qiān), or 乾／干 (Gān). As a given name, from 建 (Jiàn), 健 (Jiàn), or 謙／谦 (Qiān). Doublet of Qian and Jian.

chiffon

French

Borrowed from French chiffon, originally meaning "rag" or "scrap of cloth," ultimately related to the English word "chip."

chignon

Origin

Borrowed from French chignon circa 1780, when the hairstyle was in fashion.

Chihiro

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese ちひろ (Chihiro).

Chihuahua

Origin

Named after Chihuahua, the Mexican state where the breed originated.

chii

Origin

From Japanese 吃 (chī)

child

Old English

From Old English cild, going back to a very old Germanic word for offspring — it has been part of English since before written records began.

childbearing

Origin

From Middle English childberyng, childbering, chyldberynge, child berynge. By surface analysis, child + bearing.

childbed

Origin

From Middle English child bed; equivalent to child + bed.

childbirth

Old Norse

A compound of "child" and "birth," likely echoing a similar Old Norse phrase meaning "bairn birth."

childcare

Origin

A straightforward compound of "child" and "care."

childe

Origin

From Old English ċild.

childermas

Origin

From Childermas-Day, from Middle English Childermasse day, from Old English Ċildamæsse dæg, from ċilda (“children's”) + mæsse (“mass, religious service”) + dæġ (“day”), equivalent to childer + -mas.

childhood

Old English

From Old English ċildhād, formed from "child" plus the suffix -hood, which marks a state or condition.

childish

Old English

From Old English ċildisċ, formed from "child" plus the suffix -ish.

childishness

Origin

Formed from "childish" plus the noun-forming suffix -ness.

childless

Origin

Formed from "child" plus the suffix -less, meaning "without."

childlike

Origin

Formed from "child" plus the suffix -like.

childlover

Origin

From child + lover, a calque of Ancient Greek παιδοφίλης (paidophílēs).

childly

Origin

From Middle English childly, childlich, childli, from Old English ċildlīċ (“childly, childlish”), equivalent to child + -ly.

childminder

Origin

From child + minder.

Children

Middle English

From Middle English children, alteration of earlier childre ("children"; > English dialectal childer), from Old English ċildru, ċildra (“children”), nominative and accusative plural of ċild (“child”), equivalent to child + -ren.

Chile

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish Chile, possibly from a Quechua word meaning "cold."

Chilean

Origin

Built from the country name Chile plus the adjective-forming suffix -an, the same pattern seen in "American" or "Canadian".

chili

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish chile, which came from the Nahuatl word chīlli.

chiliad

Origin

From Latin chilias (“the number 1000, a group of 1000 things”), possibly via French chiliade, from Ancient Greek χιλιάς (khiliás, “the number 1000, any large amount, a millennium”), from χῑ́λιοι (khī́lioi, “1000”) + -ᾰ́ς (-ắs, “-ad: forming collective nouns”). Equivalent to chilia- + -ad.

chill

Old English

From Old English ċiele, meaning cold, going back to a Proto-Germanic root meaning "to be cold" — the same root gave us "cool" and "cold".

chillax

Origin · 1990

An informal blend of "chill" and "relax", first recorded around the mid-1990s.

chilled

Middle English

The past-tense form of "chill" plus -ed, from Middle English chelle/chille.