Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • abbreviation chain (measurement)
  • abbreviation check (chess)

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A common English digraph, of various origin and pronunciation.
  • An abbreviation of China;
  • of Chinese;
  • of check (in chess).
  • noun An abbreviation
  • noun of chapter, and
  • noun of church.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A digraph from c and h, considered an individual letter in some languages.
  • abbreviation chain - a unit of measurement equal to 22 yards
  • pronoun obsolete, dialectal Alternative form of I.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Aphetic form of ich, utch, ultimately from Old English .

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Examples

  • The term ch'ao , "with its aspiration, low rising tone and all cannot be translated into English," we're told.

    How to Cook, and How to Live Jason Epstein 2011

  • The term château, or castle, used in this narrative was applied to a kind of grassy platform at the top.

    The Vaudois of Piedmont A Visit to their Valleys

  • He might even wonder why the French word châtrer had anything at all to do with little ol 'him ... when, clearly, with the prefix "chat," does this emasculating mot begin!

    French Word-A-Day: 2010

  • He might even wonder why the French word châtrer had anything at all to do with little ol 'him ... when, clearly, with the prefix "chat," does this emasculating mot begin!

    chatrer - French Word-A-Day 2010

  • “We suspected them at one time of being the leaders of what they call the château gang.”

    Maigret and the Informer Simenon, Georges, 1903- 1971

  • Multilingual. ch is a search interface for translators that uses Google

    Internet News: Language Search at the Majors 2008

  • Simon Keenlyside sings "Fin ch'han dal vino" from Don Giovanni (Abbado conducting):

    The Soul of Wit Matthew Guerrieri 2007

  • Let's open our ears, our hearts and our minds and read along with the brilliant minds that created this concept: The micro compact home [m-ch] is a lightweight compact dwelling for one or two people.

    Archive 2007-04-01 2007

  • The micro compact home [m-ch] is all the rage in Europe right now.

    Archive 2007-04-01 2007

  • Simon Keenlyside sings "Fin ch'han dal vino" from Don Giovanni (Abbado conducting):

    Archive 2007-03-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2007

Comments

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  • An aphetic form of ich, an obsolete dialect form of "I", used only to prefix other words, e.g., cham, I am; cha, chave, I have; chad, I had; chill, I will. It does not appear that it can stand alone as a word, but for some reason it's on the SOWPODS list, which I regard as an error. (Listed in MW2, OED2 and Chambers 20th Century Dictionary.)

    December 11, 2007