chancery

C2+ Topic:Law & Government

US /ˈtʃænsəri/ UK /ˈtʃɑːnsəri/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
a court of equity or the public records office of a court

The disputed estate was tied up for years in chancery.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a court of equity or the... chancellery tribunal court registry archive

Word family

Related forms chancellor chancellery

Etymology

A contraction of Middle English chancellerie, from Old French chancelerie, from Late Latin cancellarius ('chancellor'), originally an official at the cancelli ('lattice') of a court.

chancelerie Old French cancellarius Latin cancelli Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Law & Government Word Formation & Derivatives

# chancery

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˈtʃænsəri
**IPA (UK):** ˈtʃɑːnsəri

## Meanings
1. a court of equity or the public records office of a court

## Examples
- The disputed estate was tied up for years in chancery.

## Synonyms
- chancellery
- tribunal
- court
- registry
- archive

## Related Forms
- chancellor
- chancellery

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: chancelerie
- Root: cancellarius
- Root: cancelli

## Etymology
A contraction of Middle English chancellerie, from Old French chancelerie, from Late Latin cancellarius ('chancellor'), originally an official at the cancelli ('lattice') of a court.

## AI Etymology
Chancery is a contraction of Middle English chancellerie, from Old French chancelerie, from Late Latin cancellarius ('chancellor'), originally an official at the cancelli ('lattice') of a court. The historical trail runs through chancelerie in Old French, cancellarius in Latin, and cancelli in Latin. Used as a noun, chancery now means "a court of equity or the public records office of a court", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in related forms such as chancellor and chancellery. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.

## Topics
- Law & Government
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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chancery

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