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Etymology and origin of the French word chic

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1793 poissard language More words from the 18th century
Borrowed from
German Schick
Ultimate origin
German Schick
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French chic
English chic

Pronunciation

Forms

chic (plural chic or chics)[1] Boiste spells it chique (1803 according to the Grand Robert and Rey, 1823 according to the TLFi), as does Balzac for the adjective in 1842.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from German Schick (“fitness, proper manner, skill”), the noun of schicken, properly “to make something happen”, hence “to arrange, to prepare”.[4][3][5][6][7] In southern Germany and especially in Alemannic Switzerland the word meant “propriety, skill, know-how”;[4][5] Bloch and Wartburg say it lives mainly in the German dialects of Alsace, Switzerland and the Rhineland, and that Alsatians probably brought it to Paris.[4][5] Rey connects the verb with geschehen (“to happen”).[3] Modern German took the French word back, as Chic (“elegance”), about 1850–1860.[4] Wiktionary compares Dutch schikken (“to arrange”).[1]

Rey calls the origin uncertain and also mentions a derivation from a dialect verb chiquer “to give a small blow” (Lorraine, Wallonia), related to chicaner; he finds that the first records do not decide between the two.[3] Pierre Guiraud explained it as a back-formation from the same verb in the sense “to draw with broad strokes”.[4][2] Littré reports a story that Chic was the name of a favourite pupil of David, but distrusts it, and suggests that the older sense “legal trickery” may be a comic shortening of chicane.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, from 1793 according to Esnault, is in the poissard style imitating the speech of the Paris markets, meaning an easy, unconstrained manner.[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Boiste gives the sense “subtlety, finesse”.[4][3] The word made its fortune in the slang of painters' studios: attraper le chic (1832), Théophile Gautier (1833), peinture de chic (1834) and avoir le chic (1842), for a facility in painting effective pictures quickly, working from memory.[4][3] Baudelaire condemned it: le chic est l'abus de la mémoire “chic is the abuse of memory”.[4][6] At the same time, among the Jeune-France, it took the sense of a casual, original elegance (George Sand, 1835), displacing the fashionable studio word galbe, and was used as an adjective from 1842.[3][4]

The move into fashion is shown by bon chic bon genre (1970), shortened to BCBG, for a person of conventional, well-off elegance.[3] The word also came to mean “nice, decent”, as in chic type, and serves as an interjection of pleasure, chic !, now revived by the familiar chicos of the 1980s.[3] English took chic in 1856 for artistic skill and by 1882 for Parisian elegance.[9]

Timeline

  • 1793 – First record, in poissard language.[4][3]
  • 1803 – Boiste records chique “subtlety, finesse”.[2][3]
  • 1832 – Attraper le chic in Charles de Bernard.[4]
  • 1833 – Théophile Gautier uses it of painting.[4]
  • 1835 – George Sand uses it for elegance.[4][10]
  • 1842 – Avoir le chic, and the adjective in Balzac.[4][3]
  • 1856 – English borrows chic.[9]
  • 1970 – Bon chic bon genre appears.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (dated) In painting, a facile knack for producing effective pictures;[6][4] de chic, from imagination, without a model.[6][4]
  2. A knack, a skill at doing something with ease: avoir le chic pour, often ironic.[6]
  3. Bold, casual elegance, style: avoir du chic.[6][8]

Adjective

  1. stylish, elegant, smart.[6][1]
  2. (familiar) Nice, decent, generous: un chic type.[3][1]

Interjection

  1. (familiar) An exclamation of pleasure: chic ![3]

Word family

  • chiquer
  • chiqué
  • chicard
  • chiquement
  • chicos
  • German Schick
  • English chic

Usage notes

Bon chic bon genre, abbreviated BCBG, describes, and ironically names, a person of traditional, bourgeois elegance.[3][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 17, 34b
  8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Chic.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/chic. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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