chill

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tʃɪl/^[1]

Etymology

The noun is Middle English chele, chile, inherited from Old English ċiele (“cold, coolness, frost”) (Anglian cele),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *kaliz, related to cold,^[2][5] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“cold; to freeze”).^[3] The verb, which Hoad calls the earliest of the group, may represent an Old English *ċieldan from the same base as cold.^[6] In modern use the noun is perhaps a back-formation from the verb.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cold, frost, the sensation of cold: about 825 in the OED.^[7] The verb, to grow cold, is from about 1378, in Piers Plowman.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The verb, to make cold, is from about 1400, and to discourage or dispirit is late 14th-century.^[3] A coldness of the body, as in fever, is from 1601,^[7] and a coldness of the air from 1788.^[7] A depressing influence on the feelings is from 1821; in Middle English the figurative sense was suffering or misfortune.^[3] The adjective, unpleasantly cold, is from the 16th century and now literary.^[6][8] Chilly is from 1570.^[2] In slang, chill out, relax, is recorded by 1979, and chill, to hang out, by 1985.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 825 – cold, frost.^[7]
• c. 1378 – to grow cold.^[2]
• 1570 – chilly.^[2]
• 1601 – a feverish chill.^[7]
• 1821 – a depressing influence.^[3]
• 1979 – chill out.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An unpleasant feeling of cold.
2. A feverish cold with shivering.
3. A coolness of manner or atmosphere; a depressing influence.

Verb

1. To make or become cold.
2. To cool food or drink, as in a refrigerator.
3. To frighten or dispirit.
4. (slang, often with out) To relax; to calm down.

Adjective

1. Unpleasantly cold.

Word family

• chillingly
• chillness
• chilly
• chilblain
• windchill
• chiller
• chilling

Related words

• cold
• cool
• gelid
• congeal
• jelly

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press