chip
/t͡ʃɪp/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.31 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A token used in place of cash.
noun
A medallion.
noun
A circuit fabricated in one piece on a small, thin substrate; a microchip.
noun
A hybrid device mounted in a substrate, containing electronic circuitry and miniaturised mechanical, chemical or biochemical devices.
noun
A deep-fried strip of potato; see also usage note at French fries.
Australian usage; New Zealand usage; British usage; Archaic
Example Sentences
- "The floor of the sculptor's studio was strewn with chips of marble."
- "The universe is finished; the copestone is on, and the chips were carted off a million years ago."
- "This cup has a chip in it."
- "If the second player does raise three chips, and all the other players drop, the player who opened may stay in by putting three more chips in the pot, for then he will have put in precisely as many chips as the second player."
- "AA chips showing duration of abstinence (6 months)"
- "1986 September 1, Tom Moran, Lisa L. Spiegelman, New Chip Said to Contain Seven PC AT Chip Functions, InfoWorld, page 5, But sources close to the company said the chip contains two direct memory access controllers, two interrupt controllers, a timer, a memory mapper from Texas Instruments, and a Motorola Inc. real-time clock."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *kippōną Proto-West Germanic *kippōn Old English *ċippiander. Old English ċipp Middle English chippe English chip Noun from Middle English chip, chippe, from Old English ċipp (“chip; small piece of wood, shaving”), from Old English *ċippian (“to cut; hew”) – attested in Old English forċippian (“to cut off”) –, from Proto-West Germanic *kippōn (“to cut; carve; hack; chop”), from Proto-Germanic *kippōną (“to chip, chop”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵeyb- (“to split; divide; germinate; sprout”). Related to Dutch kip, keep (“notch; nick; score”), Dutch kippen (“to hatch”), German Low German kippen (“to cut; clip; trim; shorten”), German kipfen (“to chop off the tip; snip”), Old Swedish kippa (“to chop”). Compare also chop. The formally similar Old English ċipp, ċypp, ċyp (“a beam; log; stock; post”), from Proto-Germanic *kippaz (“log; beam”) (whence Old Saxon kip (“post”), Old High German kipfa, chipfa (“axle, stave”), Old Norse keppr (“cudgel, club”)) is a different, unrelated word either borrowed from Latin cippus (“stake; pale; post”) or borrowed from the same source language as the Latin. Verb from Middle English chippen, from Old English *ċippian (“to cut; hew”) – attested in Old English forċippian (“to cut off”) – see above.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: chip, ċipp, *ċippian, *kippōn, *kippōną, *ǵeyb-
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Law.