shiv

Etymology

It is a variant, based on the pronunciation, of the thieves' cant word chiv, also spelled “chive”, a knife,^[2][3][4][5] recorded from 1673.^[3] Most dictionaries take chiv as probably from Romani chiv (“blade”),^{[6][7][8][9][10]} and Etymonline and Wiktionary also cite chivomengro (“knife”),^[2][1] although Etymonline and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate call the cant word of unknown origin.^[2][5] The OED derives chiv either from chib (“tongue; blade of a knife”) or from chhiv (“to put, to stick”), each perhaps influenced by the other, and notes that the usual Romani word for a knife is chhuri.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A knife: 1897, in Jack London's list of tramps' argot, according to Green's Dictionary of Slang.^[4] The OED's first record is from the New York World of 9 May 1915,^[3] the date Merriam-Webster also gives,^[7] and Etymonline dates it "by 1915, possibly 1890s or earlier".^[2]

Semantic evolution

The older form chiv (or chive) was British underworld slang for a knife or razor from the 1670s, and was also used as a verb, to cut or stab.^[3][4] The spelling shiv (also shive, sheive) belongs to American criminal and prison slang of the early 20th century: a prison dictionary of 1918 glosses it "knife, dagger", and a study of prison life of 1931–4 describes it as usually a hand-made, contraband knife.^[4] The verb, to stab, followed from the noun: the OED dates it to 1926,^[3] and Green's Dictionary of Slang has it from 1931, in Damon Runyon.^[4] It spread to British and Irish writers by the 1940s and 1950s.^[4]

Timeline

• 1673 – chiv, a knife, in Richard Head's Canting Academy.^[3][4]
• 1897 – shiv, a knife, in Jack London.^[4] The OED's first quotation is from 1915.^[3][7]
• 1926 – verb, to stab with a knife.^[3]
• 1931–4 – a hand-made, contraband prison knife.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (slang) A knife, razor or other sharp implement, especially one used as a weapon: He was caught with a shiv in his boot.^[6][7][9]
2. (slang) A makeshift knife made in prison from whatever is at hand.^[4]

Verb

1. (slang) To stab someone with a knife: He was shivved in the exercise yard.^[7][6][4]

Related words

• chiv

Usage notes

In the dialects of Ireland, Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire, shiv (also shive, shiff) meant the husk of oats or a fragment of the woody part of flax or hemp;^[11] that word is unrelated to the slang one.^[11][3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
11. ^ a b 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)