# cheese

> English word · Noun · IPA /t͡ʃiːz/ · frequency rank #2,617

## Definitions
1. A dairy product made from curdled or cultured milk.
2. Any particular variety of cheese.
3. A piece of cheese, especially one moulded into a large round shape during manufacture.
4. A thick variety of jam (fruit preserve), as distinguished from a thinner variety (sometimes called jelly)
5. A substance resembling cream cheese, such as lemon cheese
6. That which is melodramatic, overly emotional, or cliché, i.e. cheesy.
7. Money.
8. In skittles, the roughly ovoid object that is thrown to knock down the skittles.
9. A fastball.
10. A dangerous mixture of black tar heroin and crushed Tylenol PM tablets. The resulting powder resembles grated cheese and is snorted.
11. Smegma.
12. Holed pattern of circuitry to decrease pattern density.
13. A mass of pomace, or ground apples, pressed together in the shape of a cheese.
14. The flat, circular, mucilaginous fruit of dwarf mallow (Malva rotundifolia) or marshmallow (Althaea officinalis).
15. A low curtsey; so called on account of the cheese shape assumed by a woman's dress when she stoops after extending the skirts by a rapid gyration.

## Etymology
Etymology tree
Latin cāseusbor.
Proto-Germanic *kāsijaz
Proto-West Germanic *kāsī
Old English ċīese
Middle English chese
English cheese
From Middle English chese, from Anglian Old English ċīese, from Proto-West Germanic *kāsī, borrowed from Latin cāseus. Doublet of queso.
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Síes (“cheese”), West Frisian tsiis (“cheese”), Dutch kaas (“cheese”), German Low German Kees (“cheese”), German Käse (“cheese”).

## Easily confused with
- **chose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cheese-vs-chose)
- **chest** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cheese-vs-chest)
- **chess** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cheese-vs-chess)
- **chefs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cheese-vs-chefs)
- **chews** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cheese-vs-chews)
- **choose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cheese-vs-choose)
- **cheesy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cheese-vs-cheesy)
- **cheque** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cheese-vs-cheque)
- **crease** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cheese-vs-crease)
- **Cherie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cheese-vs-cherie)
- **chewie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cheese-vs-chewie)
- **Chinese** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cheese-vs-chinese)
- **Chelsea** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cheese-vs-chelsea)
- **cheeses** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cheese-vs-cheeses)
- **chee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/chee-vs-cheese)
- **chase** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/chase-vs-cheese)
- **cheer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cheer-vs-cheese)
- **cease** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cease-vs-cheese)
- **cheek** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cheek-vs-cheese)
- **cheers** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cheers-vs-cheese)

## Common misspellings (8)
`ccheese`, `cehese`, `cheees`, `cheesse`, `chese`, `chesee`, `chheese`, `hceese`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/cheese