Etymologically
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chilly

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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