Etymologically
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chill

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 12:58. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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

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