chess English · revision 15162

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=13th century|origins=fro eschec}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /tʃes/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|ches]], [[bor|fro|esches|t=chessmen]] with its first syllable dropped, earlier [[m|fro|eschecs]], the plural of [[m|fro|eschec|t=check, the game of chess]] (see [[check]]).^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024)^(NODE 1998) The game was named after its key move.^(Etymonline) Etymonline notes that its original name was a Sanskrit word for the four parts of an army, elephants, horses, chariots and foot soldiers, which survives through Persian and Arabic in [[es|ajedrez]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The game: the 13th century in Etymonline, probably before 1300 in Sir Tristrem in Barnhart.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The pieces or the board were called chess from 1303, a sense now obsolete,^(OED 1989) and the word was used figuratively from about 1657.^(OED 1989) It was also used loosely, from 1432–50, to translate the names of Greek board games.^(OED 1989) Chessmen is from the 15th century.^(Hoad 1986) In modern French, [[m|fr|échec|t=check, defeat]] is distinguished from its plural [[m|fr|échecs|t=chess]].^(Etymonline) In Sussex dialect chess was a plaid pattern, as in the black and white chessy shawls.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 13th century – chess.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1303 – the chessmen (obsolete).^(OED 1989)

+ * 1432–50 – for Greek board games.^(OED 1989)

+ * 15th century – chessmen.^(Hoad 1986)

+ * c. 1657 – figurative chess.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A board game for two players, each beginning with sixteen pieces of six kinds that move by their own rules, the aim being to [[checkmate]] the opponent's [[king]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[check]]

+ * [[checkmate]]

+ * [[exchequer]]

+ * [[checker]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Several other words are spelled chess: a [[brome]] grass such as cheat (1736, of unknown origin),^(MWU 2024)^(AHD) a floorboard of a pontoon bridge,^(AHD) an obsolete chess, a tier or storey (about 1460),^(OED 1989) and in Scotland a window sash.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}