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chilo

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word chilo

chilo1 chyle

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1390, Serapiom (Padua)
Borrowed from
Latin chylus
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek χέω

Pronunciation

Forms

chilo m (plural chili)[1]

Etymology

The noun meaning “chyle” is a learned word, borrowed from Late Latin chȳlus (also chylos), from Ancient Greek χυλός (khulós, “juice; juice of digestion”).[2][3][4][1] The Greek noun is derived from χέω (khéō, “to pour”), a verb of Indo-European origin.[2][5] Nocentini derives it instead from the middle χέομαι (khéomai, “to melt”), which also underlies chimo.[3] DEI compares Latin fundō (“to pour”).[6] French chyle is recorded in the 15th century, and Spanish quilo is the Spanish form.[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Paduan translation of Serapion's herbal, about 1390, with the form chilos and the sense “juice of food”.[7] DELI quotes Bluzi, before 1440: lo chilo cioè lo cibo digesto nel stomacho “the chyle, that is, the food digested in the stomach”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Benedetto Varchi explained in the 16th century that in the first digestion, in the stomach, food turns into a juice “which the physicians call, with a Greek name, chilo”.[8] Modern physiology uses the word for the milky lymph of the intestinal vessels, full of fats absorbed during digestion.[4][9][10] The derivatives are 18th-century medical words: chilifero “chyle-bearing” and chilificazione, the turning of food into chyle.[2][3]

Timeline

  • c. 1390 – The Paduan Serapiom has chilos.[7]
  • Before 1440 – Bluzi uses chilo.[2]
  • 1481 – Zingarelli's date for the word.[5]
  • 1733–1743 – Giuseppe Del Papa has chilifero.[2]
  • 1769 – Andrea Pasta has chilificare and chilificazione.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (physiology) chyle, the milky lymph formed in the small intestine during digestion.[4][9][11]

Word family

  • chilifero
  • chilificare
  • chilificazione

chilo2 kilogram

Confidence
Established
Formation
Clipping
First attested
1797, Venice (chilò)
Ultimate origin
French kilogramme

Pronunciation

Forms

chilo m (plural chili)[1]

Etymology

The noun meaning “kilogram” is a shortening of chilogrammo, like French kilo from kilogramme.[2][3][12][1] DELI, after Migliorini, sees traces of the French origin: some dialects still stressed the word ⟨chilò⟩, as Livorno, Siena and Naples do, and for a long time the short form was felt as an abbreviation and left invariable.[2][6] The full word is from French, a compound of Ancient Greek χίλιοι (khílioi, “thousand”) and γράμμα (grámma) in its sense of a small weight.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is chilò, in 1797, in the minutes of the provisional Municipality of Venice;[2][4] GRADIT dates that form to 1801.[2][4] The form chilo is first recorded in Massimo d'Azeglio in 1867, according to DELI;[2][3][5] Nocentini and Zingarelli give 1859.[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

D'Azeglio still wrote “chickens that weigh a couple of chilo”, with the word unchanged in the plural, and the purist Arlìa had to remind readers that the plural is chili, warning also against confusion with the word for chyle.[2][8] Today chilo is the common word for the kilogram, used also of body weight (perdere, prendere chili) and, hyperbolically, for a large amount.[4][9]

Timeline

  • 1797 – Chilò appears in the minutes of the Municipality of Venice.[2]
  • 1801 – GRADIT's date for chilò.[4]
  • 1859 – Nocentini's and Zingarelli's date for chilo.[3][5]
  • 1867 – Massimo d'Azeglio uses chilo as an invariable word.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A kilo, kilogram: Ho comprato due chili di arance al mercato.[4][9][11]
  2. (plural) Body weight: Durante le feste ha messo su tre chili.[4]
  3. (hyperbolic) A large quantity: un chilo di compiti.[4]

Word family

  • chiletto
  • chilogrammo
  • chimo

Usage notes

Fare il chilo is a familiar phrase for resting after a meal to help digestion; it belongs to the word for chyle.[4][9][10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 900
  7. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  8. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 75
  9. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  10. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  11. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca

Related etymologies

  • no · also from Latin
  • cosa · also from Latin
  • a · also from Latin
  • mio · also from Latin
  • uno · also from Latin
  • si · also from Latin
  • sapere · also from Latin
  • fare · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Chilo.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/chilo. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·