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chest

Etymology and origin of the English word chest

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
a. 700
From
Old English ċest via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (κίστη)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /tʃest/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cheste, inherited from Old English ċest, ċist (“box, coffer, casket”),[2][3][4] an early Germanic borrowing (Proto-Germanic *kistō)[4] from Latin cista (“box, basket”),[2][3] from Ancient Greek κίστη (kístē, “box, basket”),[2][3] from PIE *kistā “woven container”, also the source of Old Irish cess “basket”.[3][2] The same Latin word gave Old Norse and Old High German kista and Dutch kist.[3][4] It is related to cistern.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A box or coffer: about 700 in the OED and Barnhart.[6][3] A coffin is also Old English (about 890), and is still used in dialect;[6][7] Trench quotes the Bible's “he dieth, and is chested” of Joseph.[8]

Semantic evolution

The part of the body enclosed by the ribs is recorded from about 1400 in Etymonline and 1530 in Barnhart, in Palsgrave,[2][3] with figurative uses as early as Chaucer (1385);[3] the image is of the ribs as a box for the heart and lungs.[2][5] It replaced breast in this sense.[2] The common chest, where public money was kept (mid-15th century), gave “public funds” in the 1580s.[2] A sailor's chest is from 1615, a chest of drawers from the 1670s,[6][2] and a large case for tea or other goods from 1708.[6] The verb, to put in a coffin, is from 1473.[6]

Timeline

  • a. 700 – a box.[6]
  • c. 890 – a coffin.[6]
  • c. 1400 – the thorax.[2]
  • 1473 – verb, to put in a coffin.[6]
  • 1530 – the thorax, in Palsgrave.[3]
  • 1580s – public funds.[2]
  • 1670s – chest of drawers.[2]
  • 1708 – a case for goods such as tea.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The front of the body between the neck and the stomach, enclosed by the ribs; the thorax.
  2. A large strong box with a lid, used for storing things.
  3. A box for keeping money, or the money of an organization.
  4. A chest of drawers.

Word family

  • chested
  • chestful
  • windchest
  • chesty
  • chest-thumping
  • blanket chest
  • Hadley chest
  • chest of drawers
  • cistern
  • cist
  • breast

Usage notes

A different Old English word, chest or chease, meaning strife or quarrelling, is now obsolete.[6]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  8. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker

Related etymologies

  • cleave · also from Old English
  • henchman · also from Old English
  • thwart · also from Old English
  • smock · also from Old English
  • rennet · also from Old English
  • heathen · also from Old English
  • giddy · also from Old English
  • gallows · also from Old English
Cite this entry

“Chest.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/chest. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

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