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chilly

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Etymology and origin of the English word chilly

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1567 Turberville's Epitaphes, Epigrams
Ultimate origin
Old English ciele
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English chill
English chilly

Pronunciation

  • /ˈt͡ʃɪli/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English chill + -y,[2][3][4][5][6] the noun.[2][3] Chill is from Middle English chele,[3] from Old English ciele and cele (“cold, coolness, frost”),[3][2] from Proto-Germanic *kal- (“to be cold”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“cold; to freeze”).[3] The OED notes that the Old English noun went out of use by about 1400 and that the modern noun, recorded since about 1600, seems to be a new formation from the verb.[2] Before chilly, chill itself was used as an adjective, "causing shivering", from the 1510s.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Causing a feeling of cold, disagreeably cold: 1567, in George Turberville's Epitaphes, Epigrams;[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1560s,[3] and Merriam-Webster gives 1570.[5]

Semantic evolution

From describing the weather or air that chills, the word passed to the person who feels the cold: "feeling rather cold" is recorded from 1611, in Florio's dictionary,[2][3] and "sensitive to cold, easily chilled" from 1727.[2] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as "somewhat cold".[6] The figurative sense, lacking warmth of feeling, distant or unfriendly, appears in 1841.[2][3][4] American slang used it from 1896 for emotionless or detached,[7] and later for a cold beer and, in African American slang, a menthol cigarette.[7] An adverb chilly, in a chill manner, is recorded from 1640.[2]

Timeline

  • 1510s – the adjective chill, causing shivering.[3]
  • 1567 – causing cold; disagreeably cold.[2][3]
  • 1611 – feeling rather cold.[2][3]
  • 1640 – adverb, in a chill manner.[2]
  • 1727 – sensitive to cold.[2]
  • 1841 – figurative, lacking warmth of feeling.[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Noticeably or unpleasantly cold: a chilly morning by the lake.[8][5][2]
  2. Feeling cold, or easily affected by cold: The children were chilly after the swim.[8][5][2]
  3. Lacking warmth of feeling; distant or unfriendly: The proposal got a chilly reception.[8][5][2]

Word family

  • chillily
  • chilliness

Usage notes

Dictionary.com lists chilly with chili and Chile as words that are easily confused.[9]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  7. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
Cite this entry

“Chilly.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/chilly. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·