## Etymology
Shortened from chapman ('itinerant dealer, peddler'), from Old English cēapman, from cēap ('trade, bargain') + man. The sense weakened from 'customer, buyer' to a generic 'fellow'.

## AI Etymology
Chap is shortened from chapman ('itinerant dealer, peddler'), from Old English cēapman, from cēap ('trade, bargain') + man. The sense weakened from 'customer, buyer' to a generic 'fellow'. The historical trail runs through Old English cēapman and Old English cēap. Morphologically, the surface form is analyzable into prefixes, suffixes, compounds, or participial endings that carry part of the history. The later sense follows a semantic development already present in the word's history. In modern use it means (British informal) a man or boy; a fellow. Derived formations include chappy; related forms include chapman.

## Topics
- Register & Style
- General Vocabulary

markdown

chap

Meanings

Thesaurus

Etymology

Topics

External links

Keyboard Shortcuts

General

Send feedback