chiton
/ˈkaɪtn̩/noun
chiton is a noun meaning “A loose woolen tunic worn by men and women in Ancient Greece and in Ancient Rome” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled C-H-I-T-O-N, and it appears about once in every 15 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of chiton is chitons or chitones.
What does chiton mean?
noun
- 1
A loose woolen tunic worn by men and women in Ancient Greece and in Ancient Rome.
- 2
Any of various rock-clinging marine molluscs of the class Polyplacophora, including the genus Chiton.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce chiton?
- US /ˈkaɪtn̩/
- US /ˈkaɪtɑn/
- UK /ˈkaɪtn̩/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-chiton.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of chiton
- chitons plural
- chitones plural
- khiton
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is chiton?
Chiton appears about once in every 15 million words in written English, the 115,751st 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).
Chiton in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | chiton |
| German | Chiton , Käferschnecke |
| Portuguese | quíton, quitão |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does chiton come from?
From Ancient Greek χιτών (khitṓn, “tunic”), from a Central Semitic *kittan, from the Akkadian 𒌆𒃰 (kitû, literally “flax, linen”), from Sumerian 𒄑𒃰 (kitû [GIŠ.GADA]).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).