Online Etymology Dictionary

children (n.): plural of child (q.v.)
Chile: South American country, probably named from a local native word subsequently confused with Mexican Spanish chile "chili pepper" (see chili). Suggestions are that the native word means "land's end" or else "cold, winter," which would make a coincidental convergence with English chilly. Related: Chilean.
chili (n.): also chilli, 1660s, from Nahuatl (Aztecan) chilli, native name for the peppers. Not named for the South American country. As short for chile con carne and similar dishes, attested by 1846.
chiliad (n.): "group of 1,000" (of the same sort), 1590s, from Latinized form of Greek khiliados, from khilioi "a thousand; the number 1,000" (see chiliasm).
chiliasm (n.): c. 1600, from Latinized form of Greek khiliasmos, from khilias, from khilioi "a thousand, the number 1,000," which is of unknown origin; supposed by some to be related to Latin mille. The doctrine of the millennium, the opinion that Christ will reign in bodily presence on earth for 1,000 years. Related: Chiliast; chiliastic.
chill (n.): Old English ciele, cele "cold, coolness, chill, frost," from Proto-Germanic *kal- "to be cold," from PIE root *gel- "cold" (see cold). According to OED, the word seems to have been obsolete after c. 1400 (displaced by cold) and the modern use is a back-formation since c. 1600 from the verb.
chill (v.): late 14c., intransitive, "to feel cold, grow cold;" c. 1400, transitive, "to make cold," from chill (n.). Related: Chilled; chilling; chillingly. Figurative use from late 14c. Meaning "hang out" first recorded 1985; from earlier chill out "relax" (1979).
Sheila E. sizzles in the new flick, Krush Groove, but some New York critics couldn't groove with it because many of the terms are unfamiliar to them. Examples: breakin' out (slang for leaving), chill (for cool down) and death (for something that's really good). ["Jet," Nov. 11, 1985]
chilly (adj.): 1560s, "causing a sensation of cold," from chill (n.) + -y (2). Meaning "feeling coldish" is attested from 1610s; figurative use is recorded by 1841. Related: Chilliness.
chime (n.): c. 1300, chymbe "cymbal," from Old English cymbal, cimbal, also perhaps through Old French chimbe or directly from Latin cymbalum (see cymbal, the modern word for what this word originally meant). Evidently the word was misinterpreted as chymbe bellen (c. 1300) and its sense shifted to "chime bells," a meaning attested from mid-15c.
chime (v.): mid-14c., chyme, from chime (n.). Originally of metal, etc.; of voices from late 14c. To chime in originally was musical, "join harmoniously;" of conversation by 1838. Related: Chimed; chiming.
chimenea (n.): "free-standing fireplace," 20c., from Mexican Spanish, literally "chimney," from Spanish, ultimately from Latin caminata (see chimney).
chimera (n.): fabulous monster, late 14c., from Old French chimere or directly from Medieval Latin chimera, from Latin Chimaera, from Greek khimaira, name of a mythical creature, slain by Bellerophon, with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail (supposedly personification of snow or winter); literally "year-old she-goat" (masc. khimaros), from kheima "winter season" (see hibernation). Figurative meaning "wild fantasy" first recorded 1580s in English (attested 13c. in French).
Beestis clepid chymeres, that han a part of ech beest, and suche ben not, no but oonly in opynyoun. [Wyclif, "Prologue"]
chimerical (adj.): 1630s, from chimera + -ical. Related: Chimeric (1650s).
chimichanga (n.): "deep-fried burrito," by 1964; the thing and the name for it seem to have originated somewhere along the western U.S.-Mexico border (Arizona, Sonora), but beyond that all is obscure.
chimney (n.): late 13c., "furnace;" early 14c., "chimney stack of a fireplace;" late 14c., "fireplace in a residential space;" from Old French cheminee "fireplace; room with a fireplace; hearth; chimney stack" (12c., Modern French cheminée), from Late Latin (camera) caminata "fireplace; room with a fireplace," from Latin caminatus, adjective of caminus "furnace, forge; hearth, oven; flue," from Greek kaminos "furnace, oven, brick kiln." Jamieson [1808] notes that in vulgar use in Scotland it always is pronounced "chimley." Chimney sweep attested from 1610s, earlier chimney sweeper (c. 1500).
chimpanzee (n.): 1738, from a Bantu language of Angola (compare Tshiluba kivili-chimpenze "ape"). Short form chimp first attested 1877.
chin (n.): Old English cin, cinn "chin" (but in some compounds suggesting an older, broader sense of "jawbone"); a general Germanic word (compare Old Saxon and Old High German kinni; Old Norse kinn; German Kinn "chin;" Gothic kinnus "cheek"), from PIE root *genu-, probably originally "jaw, jawbone," but also forming words for "chin, cheek" (source also of Sanskrit hanuh "jaw," Avestan zanu- "chin;" Armenian cnawt "jawbone, cheek;" Lithuanian žándas "jawbone;" Greek genus "chin, lower jaw," geneion "chin;" Old Irish gin "mouth," Welsh gen "jawbone, chin").

The West Germanic words generally mean "chin," but there are traces of earlier use as "jaw," such as Old English cinbane "jawbone," and the words for "cheek," "chin," and "jaw" naturally overlap and interchange; compare cheek (n.), which originally meant "jaw," and Latin maxilla, which gave Italian mascella "jaw," but Spanish mejilla "cheek."
chin (v.): 1590s, "to press (affectionately) chin to chin," from chin (n.). Meaning "to bring to the chin" (of a fiddle) is from 1869. Slang meaning "talk, gossip" is from 1883, American English. Related: Chinned; chinning. Athletic sense of "raise one's chin over" (a raised bar, for exercise) is from 1880s.
chin-strap (n.): 1805, from chin (n.) + strap (n.).
chin-up (n.): also chinup, type of exercise, 1951, from chin (v.) + up (adv.). Earlier it was called chinning the bar and under names such as this is described by 1883.
china (n.): "porcelain imported from China," 1570s, short for Chinaware, China dishes, etc.; from the country name (see China).
China (n.): Asian country name, 1550s, of uncertain origin, probably ultimately from Sanskrit Cina-s "the Chinese" (earliest European usage is in Italian, by Marco Polo), perhaps from Qin dynasty, which ruled 3c. B.C.E. Latinized as Sina, hence sinologist. The Chinese word for the country is Chung-kuo (Wade-Giles), Zhongguo (Pinyin).
Chinaman (n.): 1711, "native of China," from China + man (n.). Also in 18c., "dealer in china wares" (1728).
Chinatown (n.): 1857 in California, from China + town. But from 1852 in a St. Helena context.
chinch (n.): "bedbug," 1610s, from Spanish/Portuguese chinche (diminutive chinchilla) "bug," from Latin cimicem (nominative cimex) "bedbug." Related: Chinch-bug.
chinchilla (n.): small South American rodent, 1590s, from Spanish, literally "little bug," diminutive of chinche (see chinch); perhaps a folk-etymology alteration of a word from Quechua or Aymara.
chine (adj.): "in Chinese fashion," French Chiné, past participle of chiner "to color in Chinese fashion," from Chine "China" (see China).
Chinese (adj.): 1570s, from China + -ese. As a noun from c. 1600. Chinee (n.) is a vulgar back-formation from this word on the mistaken notion that the word is a plural. As an adjective, Chinish also was used 16c. Chinese fire-drill "chaotic situation of many people rushing around futilely" is attested by 1962, U.S. military slang, perhaps with roots in World War II U.S. Marine Corps slang. The game Chinese checkers is attested from 1938.
chink (n.1): "a split, crack," 1530s, with parasitic -k + Middle English chine (and replacing this word) "fissure, narrow valley," from Old English cinu, cine "fissure," related to cinan "to crack, split, gape," common Germanic (compare Old Saxon and Old High German kinan, Gothic uskeinan, German keimen "to germinate;" Middle Dutch kene, Old Saxon kin, German Keim "germ;" ), from PIE root *geie- "to sprout, split open." The connection being in the notion of bursting open.
chink (n.2): "a Chinaman," 1901, derogatory, perhaps derived somehow from China, or else from chink (n.1) with reference to eye shape.
chink (n.3): "sharp sound" (especially of coin), 1580s, probably imitative. As a verb from 1580s. Related: Chinked; chinking.
chinky (adj.): "full of chinks," 1640s, from chink (n.1) + -y (2). As a noun by 1879, variant of chink (n.2), derogatory term for "Chinese person;" chiefly British.
chinned (adj.): "having a chin or chins" (of a certain kind or number), used in combinations from c. 1600.
chino (n.): type of cotton twill cloth, 1943, from American Spanish chino, literally "toasted;" so called in reference to its usual color. Earlier (via notion of skin color) chino meant "child of one white parent, one Indian" (fem. china), perhaps from Quechua čina "female animal, servant." Sources seem to disagree on whether the racial sense or the color sense is original.
Chinook: name for a group of related native people in the Columbia River region of Washington and Oregon, from Salishan /činuk/, name of a village site. Name also extended to a type of salmon (1851) and warm spring wind. Chinook jargon was a mishmash of native (Chinook and Nootka), French, and English words; it once was lingua franca in the Pacific Northwest, and it is the earliest attested use of the word (1840).
chinos (n.): (plural) 1943, from American Spanish chino, the name of the fabric from which they are made (see chino).
chintz (n.): 1719, plural of chint (1610s), from Hindi chint, from Sanskrit chitra-s "clear, bright" (compare cheetah). The plural (the more common form of the word in commercial use) became regarded as singular by late 18c., and for unknown reason shifted -s to -z; perhaps after quartz. Disparaging sense, from the commonness of the fabric, is first recorded 1851 in George Eliot (in chintzy).
chintzy (adj.): 1851, from chintz + -y (2).
chiono-: before vowels chion-, word-forming element meaning "snow," from Latinized form of Greek khion "snow," related to kheima, kheimon "winter" (see hibernation).
chip (v.): early 15c., "to chip" (intransitive, of stone); from Old English forcippian "to pare away by cutting, cut off," verbal form of cipp "small piece of wood" (see chip (n.)). Transitive meaning "to cut up, cut or trim" is from late 15c. Sense of "break off fragments" is 18c. To chip in "contribute" (1861) is American English, perhaps from card-playing. Related: Chipped; chipping. Chipped beef attested from 1826.
chip (n.1): Old English cipp "piece of wood," perhaps from PIE root *keipo- "sharp post" (source also of Dutch kip "small strip of wood," Old High German kipfa "wagon pole," Old Norse keppr "stick," Latin cippus "post, stake, beam;" the Germanic words perhaps borrowed from Latin).

Meaning "counter used in a game of chance" is first recorded 1840; electronics sense is from 1962. Used for thin slices of foodstuffs (originally fruit) since 1769; specific reference to potatoes is found by 1859 (in "A Tale of Two Cities"); potato chip is attested by 1879. Meaning "piece of dried dung" first attested 1846, American English.

Chip of the old block is used by Milton (1642); earlier form was chip of the same block (1620s); more common modern phrase with off in place of of is early 20c. To have a chip on one's shoulder is 1830, American English, from the custom of a boy determined to fight putting a wood chip on his shoulder and defying another to knock it off. When the chips are down (1940s) is from the chips being down on the table after the final bets are made in a poker match.
chip (n.2): "break caused by chipping," 1889, from chip (v.).
chipmunk (n.): 1829 (also chitmunk, 1832), from Algonquian, probably Ojibwa ajidamoo (in the Ottawa dialect ajidamoonh) "red squirrel," literally "head first," or "one who descends trees headlong" (containing ajid- "upside down"), probably influenced by English chip and mink. Other early names for it included ground squirrel and striped squirrel.
chipotle (n.): "smoke-dried jalapeño chili," from Mexican Spanish, ultimately a Nahuatl (Aztecan) word, said to be a compound of chilli "chili pepper" (see chili) + poctli "smoke."
Chippendale: "piece of furniture by, or in the style of, Chippendale," by 1871, from Thomas Chippendale (c. 1718-1779), English cabinetmaker. The family name (13c.) is from Chippingdale, Lancashire (probably from Old English ceaping "a market, marketplace," related to cheap). Chippendales beefcake dance revue, began late 1970s in a Los Angeles nightclub, the name said to have been chosen for its suggestion of elegance and class.
chipper (adj.): 1834, "lively, nimble," American English, from northern British dialectal kipper "nimble, frisky," the origin of which is obscure.
Chippewa: see Ojibwa.
chippy (n.): "promiscuous young woman; prostitute," 1880, U.S. slang, earlier (1864) short for chipping-bird "sparrow," perhaps ultimately a variant of cheep.
chiral (adj.): 1894, a hybrid coined by Lord Kelvin from Latinized comb. form of Greek kheir "hand" (from PIE *ghes- "hand;" see chiro-) + -al (1).
chiro-: before verbs chir-, word-forming element meaning "hand," from Latinized form of Greek kheiro-, comb. form of kheir (genitive kheiros) "the hand," from PIE *ghes- "hand" (source also of Hittite keshshar, Armenian jern "hand").