chiac
French, noun
chiac is spelled C-H-I-A-C (5 letters) and appears about once in every 16 million words in written French, the 129,327th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Chiac is a French masculine noun meaning “a language and distinct dialect of Acadian French, with linguistic roots from the Mi'kmaq language and also terms or expressions corrupted…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Chiac is a different word: “a mixed person of Wabanaki-Acadia, with primarily Indigenous and…”. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Langue parlée par les Acadiens du sud-est du Nouveau-Brunswick, au Canada”.
What does chiac mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinea language and distinct dialect of Acadian French, with linguistic roots from the Mi'kmaq language and also terms or expressions corrupted by the surrounding English language, it is spoken by Chiac-Acadians primarily in rural southeastern New Brunswick. It is often malapropped or confused with Acadian Franglais
- 2
masculineLanguage spoken mainly by the ethnic Chiac Acadians of southeastern New Brunswick, but occasionally also by non-Chiac French Acadians of the region
- 3
masculinea mixed person of Wabanaki-Acadia, with primarily Indigenous and Acadian ancestry, originating from the rural southeast coast of New Brunswick, Canada
noun
- 1
masculinea mixed person of Wabanaki-Acadia, with primarily Indigenous and Acadian ancestry, originating from the rural southeast coast of New Brunswick, Canada
- 2
masculinea dialect originating from the metis-créole people of Wabanaki Acadia
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Langue parlée par les Acadiens du sud-est du Nouveau-Brunswick, au Canada.
adjective: 1. Relatif au chiac, la langue populaire des Acadiens dans la région du sud-est du Nouveau-Brunswick, au Canada.
noun: 1. Acadien ou Acadienne, d'ascendance principalement autochtone et acadienne, originaire de la côte sud-est du Nouveau-Brunswick au Canada.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of chiac
- chiak
- chiaque
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is chiac in French?
chiac appears about once in every 16 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).