chaw
/t͡ʃɔ/noun, verb
chaw is spelled C-H-A-W: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 10 million words in written English, the 93,703rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, chaw means “That which is chewed” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of chaw is chaws.
How many letters and syllables are in chaw?
| Letters | 4: C-H-A-W |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 10 million words; the 93,703rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is chaw?
Chaw appears about once in every 10 million words in written English, the 93,703rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce chaw?
- US /t͡ʃɔ/
- /t͡ʃɑ/
- UK /t͡ʃɔː/
Chaw has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-chaw.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with chaw
Also written: cha.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with chaw?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as chaw from its last stressed vowel (/ɔ/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of chaw
- chaws plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- chawing participle, present
- chawed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does chaw mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
That which is chewed.
- 2
informalChewing tobacco.
When the doctor told him to quit smoking, Harvey switched to chaw, but then developed cancer of the mouth.
- 3
obsoleteThe jaw.
verb
- 1
To chew; grind with one's teeth; to masticate (food, or the cud).
The trampling steede, with gold and purple trapt,
- 2
obsoleteTo ruminate (about) in thought; to ponder; to consider.
"I home retourning, fraught with fowle despight, And chawing vengeaunce all the way I went, Soone as my loathed love appeard in sight, With wrathfull hand I slew her innocent;
- 3
UKslangTo steal.
Some pikey's chawed my bike.
- 4
To be sulky.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does chaw come from?
An unexplained variation of chewen (“to chew”). First attested in the sixteenth century. See chew for more. Cognate with Middle Dutch cauwen ("to chew"; whence Dutch kauwen), obsolete Dutch kauw (“the act of chewing, that which is chewed, chewed mass, wad of tobacco”), Middle Low German kauwen, kauen (“to chew”). Compare also Old English ġecow (“that which is chewed, food”) and *ġeċēaw (“chewing”), whence Middle English icheu (“gnawing, biting”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).