char

char¹ odd job; charwoman

Etymology

The odd job is inherited from Middle English char, also cherre and chare,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English cierr (“a turn, occasion”), also cerr and cyrr,^{[3][5][6][4][7]} the noun of cierran (“to turn”).^[3][6][5][8] It goes back to Proto-Germanic *karzijaną (“to turn”),^[1][2] and is related to Dutch keer (“a time, turn”) and German Kehre (“a turn”).^[1][9] Barnhart traces it further to Proto-Indo-European *ĝers- (“turn, bend”);^[3] Wiktionary calls this root possible.^[1] The variant chore is the same word.^[10][5][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old English, a turn, a time or occasion,^[7][5][2] and also an affair or piece of business.^[10][5] In Middle English on chare meant "once", and Laȝamon's Brut has þridde chærre, a third time.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From "a turn, an occasion" the word came to mean a turn of work, a piece of business (before 1250 in Barnhart),^[3][5] and then an odd job, especially of housework.^[3][11] A woman hired by the day for such work was a charwoman: the surname Chareman is recorded in 1183 and an Alicia Charwoman in Nottingham in 1379, though the common noun is attested only from the 1590s.^[3][10] The verb char, to do odd jobs or work as a charwoman, appears in 1732,^[6][5] and char alone for a charwoman in 1906.^[12][6] The old sense "turn" survives only in ajar, from a-char.^[5] In the United States the same word became chore (1751),^[10] which Webster in 1789 called an English word still used in many parts of England.^[10]

Timeline

• Old English – cierr, a turn, an occasion; a piece of business.^[7][5]
• 1183 – the surname Chareman.^[3]
• before 1250 – a turn of work, an odd job.^[3]
• 1379 – the surname Charwoman.^[3][10]
• 1732 – verb, to work as a charwoman.^[6]
• 1906 – a charwoman.^[12][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (chiefly British) A charwoman; a woman paid to clean a house or an office.^[13][6][12]
2. (also chare) An odd job, especially of housework; a chore.^[6][5][11]

Verb

1. (chiefly British) To work as a charwoman; to do cleaning for pay.^[6][5][13]

Word family

• charwoman
• charlady

char² fish of the trout family

Etymology

The fish is of unknown origin.^{[12][6][14][5]} The OED notes that it is known in books only since the 17th century but may have been used locally much earlier, and suggests a Celtic source, comparing Scottish Gaelic ceara (“red, blood-coloured”) and cear (“blood”), and the Welsh name torgoch (“red-bellied”);^[12] Klein and Weekley also derive it from the Gaelic word, from the colour of the fish's belly.^[15][9] Wiktionary also mentions Middle Low German schar (“flounder, dab”), related to shard.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small fish of the trout kind found in mountain lakes of northern England and Wales: 1662, in the second edition of Phillips's New World of English Words.^[12][6]

Semantic evolution

Early writers knew the fish from Windermere: a dictionary of 1640 called it peculiar to that lake, and Johnson (1755) described it as found only there.^[16][17] The OED notes that it was valued as a delicacy.^[12] In North America the name was applied from 1864 to the brook trout.^[12][5] The spelling charr is also used.^[6][5][16]

Timeline

• 1662 – a small trout-like fish of northern lakes.^[12][6]
• 1755 – Johnson describes it as found in Windermere.^[17]
• 1864 – the American brook trout.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A trout of the genus Salvelinus, especially the Arctic char of cold northern waters and lakes.^[6][5][12]
2. (North America) The brook trout.^[5][12]

Word family

• Arctic char

char³ to scorch

Etymology tree of char³

inherited borrowed derived

English charcoal

English char

Etymology

The verb to scorch is probably a back-formation from English charcoal,^{[3][6][10][5][15][18]} perhaps first a charcoal burner's word for making charcoal.^[12][19] The OED rejects a direct identity with the old verb chare (“to turn”).^[12] Etymonline and Ayto give two explanations for the first part of charcoal itself: Old French charbon (“charcoal”), or Middle English charen (“to turn”), so "turned to coal".^[10][19] Ayto therefore notes that the element char had originally nothing to do with burning.^[19] The noun is formed from the verb.^[12][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To reduce to charcoal, or to burn partly; scorch: 1679 in Barnhart and Merriam-Webster,^[3][6] 1686 in the OED, in Robert Plot's Natural History of Staffordshire.^[12] Etymonline dates it to the 1670s.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive use, to become charcoal, followed in 1727.^[12] Weekley notes the variant chark.^[9][5] The noun char, a charred substance, especially the animal or vegetable charcoal used to whiten sugar, dates from 1879,^[12][6] and Merriam-Webster adds the blackened crust on grilled food.^[6]

Timeline

• 1679 – to burn to charcoal; to scorch.^[3][6]
• 1686 – first OED quotation.^[12]
• 1727 – intransitive, to become charred.^[12]
• 1879 – noun, a charred substance; bone black.^[12][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To burn something partly so that its surface turns black; scorch: She charred the peppers under the grill.^[13][6][12]
2. To reduce wood or another material to charcoal or carbon.^[13][6][12]
3. To become charred.^[6][12]

Noun

1. A charred substance, such as the charcoal used in refining sugar.^[6][12][5]
2. The blackened crust on grilled food.^[6]

Word family

• charbroil
• charry