cheese
English has two nouns spelled cheese: the food, from Latin caseus, and a slang word for “the right thing”, from Urdu chīz “thing”.[1][2][3]
Pronunciation
- IPA: /tʃiːz/[4]
cheese1 food
Etymology
It is inherited from Middle English chese,[5][2] inherited from Old English ċēse, Anglian, and cȳse, West Saxon,[1][5][6] from Proto-West Germanic *kasjus,[1][6] also the source of Old Saxon kāsi, German Käse and Dutch kaas,[1][5] an early borrowing from Latin cāseus (“cheese”),[1][5][6] which also gave Italian cacio, Spanish queso and Welsh caws.[1] The Latin word is of uncertain origin:[5][1] Watkins suggests a root *kwat- “to ferment, become sour”, but de Vaan finds no etymology without weak assumptions and suggests a loanword.[1] The Scandinavian words, Danish and Swedish ost, are unrelated.[1]
Earliest recorded meaning
Old English cāse is from 800, in an early glossary, and cyse from before 1000, in Ælfric's Colloquy;[5] the OED's first quotation is from before 1000.[3]
Semantic evolution
The earliest references are to pressed curds of milk; pressed or moulded cheeses with rinds are from the 14th century,[1] 1362 in the OED.[3] The surname Chesemangere is from 1186.[5] Chalk and cheese is from about 1425.[3] Other cheese-like substances are called cheese from the 1530s.[1] As a photographer's word to make people smile, and school slang for a smile, it is from 1930.[1][3] Hard cheese, bad luck, is from 1876.[3] Big cheese, an important person, is from 1914 in American English and probably belongs with this word,[1] and cut a big cheese, to look important, is from 1915.[1]
Timeline
- 800 – Old English cāse.[5]
- 1186 – the surname Chesemangere.[5]
- 1362 – a whole cheese.[3]
- 1530s – cheese-like substances.[1]
- 1876 – hard cheese.[3]
- 1914 – big cheese.[1]
- 1930 – say cheese.[1][3]
Modern meaning
Noun
- A solid food made from the pressed curd of milk, often seasoned and aged.
- A moulded mass of this food.
- Something like cheese in shape or consistency.
- (informal) big cheese: an important person.
Word family
- cheesy
- cheesecake
- cheesecloth
- cheesed off
cheese2 the right thing
Etymology
It is probably from Urdu chīz “thing”, borrowed from Persian چیز (čiz, “thing”),[1][2][7] from Old Persian *ciš-ciy “something”,[1] picked up by the British in India.[1] Wiktionary notes that the word does not appear first in Anglo-Indian sources, which casts doubt on this.[7]
Earliest recorded meaning
1818, as slang for the right or correct thing, anything first-rate.[3][1][2]
Semantic evolution
It was used especially in the phrase the real chiz, a big thing.[1] Wealth and fame, and an important person, are from before 1910 in the OED,[3] but Etymonline thinks the American big cheese more likely belongs to the food word.[1]
Timeline
Modern meaning
Noun
- (dated slang) the cheese: the right or proper thing.
Related words
- casein
- queso
Usage notes
The slang verb cheese it, stop, run off, is from 1812, in thieves' slang, of unknown origin.[1][6][2]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org