chip English · revision 6049

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1330|origins=ang cipp}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /tʃɪp/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English chip, chippe, [[inh|ang|cipp|t=small piece of wood, beam, log]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline) which corresponds to Old Saxon [[m|osx|kip|t=post]], [[goh|kipfa|t=wagon pole, axle]] and [[non|keppr|t=stick, staff]].^(Hoad 1986)^(Barnhart 1988) These may all be early borrowings of [[la|cippus|t=stake, post, pillar]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) and Etymonline also mentions a possible PIE root [[ine-pro|*keipo-|t=sharp post]].^(Etymonline) The verb, Middle English chippen, is probably from Old English [[m|ang|forcippian|t=to cut off]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline) which matches East Frisian [[m|frs|kippen|t=to cut]] and [[gml|kippen|t=to hatch]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A small, thin piece of wood, stone or the like cut or broken off: about 1330 in the OED,^(OED 1989) before 1338 in Mannyng's ''Chronicle'' in Barnhart.^(Barnhart 1988) The verb, to break off in small pieces, is from 1425 in the ''Paston Letters''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Hoad takes the basic sense to be “a piece hewn or cut”.^(Hoad 1986) The early verb could also mean to pare the crust from bread,^(SOED 2002)^(OED 1989) and Middle English also had the noun for a paring of bread crust (about 1440).^(OED 1989) A thin slice of fruit in cookery is from 1769;^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) slices of potato are in Dickens's ''A Tale of Two Cities'' (1859), and fish and chips were sold in London by 1860.^(Etymonline) The American potato chip, the British [[crisp]], is described by that name in a recipe book of 1858.^(Etymonline) The counter used in games of chance is from 1840,^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) which gave ''to cash in one's chips'', to die,^(OED 1989) and probably ''to chip in'', to contribute (1861, American English).^(Etymonline) The tiny square of semiconductor in electronics is from 1962.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) ''A chip off the old block'' was earlier ''chip of the same block'' and ''chip of the old block'' (mid-17th century), a person made of the same material as a parent;^(Cresswell 2021) ''a chip on one's shoulder'' is first American, and an 1830 Long Island newspaper explains that a boy spoiling for a fight dared another to knock a chip of wood off his shoulder.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1330 – a small piece of wood or stone.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1425 – the verb, to break off in small pieces.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1769 – a thin slice of fruit.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1840 – a gaming counter.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1859 – potato chips, in Dickens.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1861 – to chip in, to contribute.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1962 – a silicon chip in electronics.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small piece broken or cut off something hard, such as wood, stone or [[glass]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A mark or flaw left where such a piece has been broken off.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A [[counter]] used in [[poker]] and other games to stand for money.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(chiefly Brit.)'' A strip of potato fried in deep fat;^(Collins 2023) ''(US)'' a thin, crisp slice of fried potato eaten as a snack.^(Collins 2023)^(AHD)

+ # A tiny piece of [[semiconductor]] on which an [[integrated circuit]] is formed.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To break small pieces from something, or to break off in this way.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To shape or carve by cutting or chopping.^(AHD)

+ # To contribute money or help: ''to chip in''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[chippable]]

+ * [[chipper]]

+ * [[chip in]]

+ * [[chipped beef]]

+ * [[chipping sparrow]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[chop]]

+ * [[chipmunk]]

+ * [[crisp]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Chip, to cheep or chirp, chiefly American from the late 18th century, is a separate imitative word.^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024) In Yorkshire and the Midlands dialects ''a chip in porridge'' was something that does neither good nor harm.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}