ch

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ch"

Translingual

Letter

ch (mixed case Ch, upper case CH)

1. A digraph from c and h, considered an individual letter in some languages.

Symbol

ch

1. Alternative form of cosh (“hyperbolic cosine”)
2. (international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Chamorro.

English

Etymology 1

Noun

ch (countable and uncountable, plural chs)

1. Abbreviation of chain, a unit of measurement equal to 22 yards
2. Abbreviation of chapter, main section of a book
   • 2007, The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, page 143:

     Ch 2 secondarily interrupts the flow between chs 1 and 3 (see 2.1–16n.).

3. Abbreviation of chestnut, a dark reddish-brown colored horse
   • 2014, Kenneth Hinchcliff, Andris Kaneps, Raymond Geor, Equine Sports Medicine and Surgery, page 675:

     NAME OF HORSE (COLOR, SEX, YEAR BORN)
     Secretariat (ch.s. 1970)

4. Abbreviation of channel, in reference to telephones, audio, radio, and television

   5.1 ch surround sound

Etymology 2

Aphetic form of ich, utch, ultimately from Old English iċ (“I”). Compare Dutch 'k, an aphetic variant of ik (“I”). More at ich, I.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃ/

Pronoun

ch

1. (obsolete, dialectal) Alternative form of I

Anagrams

• H&C, H.C., H/C, HC, h/c

Blin

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʃʼ/

Letter

ch (uppercase Ch)

1. A letter of the Bilen Latin alphabet.

Chipewyan

Pronunciation

1. IPA^(key): /t͜ʃʰ/

Letter

ch (upper case Ch)

1. A letter of the Chipewyan alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Czech

Letter

ch (lower case, upper case CH, mixed case Ch)

1. a digraph, the fourteenth letter of the Czech alphabet, after h and before i

Usage notes

In names or at the beginning of a sentence the mixed case Ch is used (e. g. Chrudim).

Esperanto

Letter

ch

1. A digraph used in the h-sistemo to represent ĉ.

See also

• gh, hh, jh, sh
• cx, gx, hx, jx, sx, ux

French

Alternative forms

• ch.

Etymology 1

Abbreviation of chaque (“each”).

Adjective

ch (invariable)

1. ea (each)

Etymology 2

Abbreviation of cheval-vapeur (“horsepower”).

Noun

Added

ch m (plural ch)

1. hp (horsepower)

Usage notes

The abbreviation ch is used for all types of (metric) horsepower except tax horsepower, which uses the initialisms cv or CV.

Hadza

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ᵏǀʰ/

Letter

ch (upper case Ch)

1. A letter of the practical Hadza alphabet.

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• (on its own) IPA^(key): [ˈt͡seːɦaː]
• (within words) IPA^(key): /xː/, /t͡ʃ/, /ç/, /çː/, /h/, /k/, /ʃ/ (depending on the word)

Letter

ch (lower case, upper case Ch)

1. A digraph used in several Hungarian words, as well as in some surnames, given names, and geographical names.

Usage notes

It is used (among others) in the following words, along with their derivations and compounds: Achilles-ín, allochton, acháj, achát, akrosztichon, almanach, anarchia/​​anarchikus/​anarchista/​anarchizmus, archaikus/​archaizál/​archaizmus, archeológia/​archeológus, archimandrita, architektúra, archivál/​archivális/​archívum, autochton, bacchanália, bacchánsnő, baldachin, barchesz, barkochba/​barkochbázik, bronchitisz, cech, chanti, charleston, charta, charter, chartizmus, chata, chianti, chorijambus, chripka, couchette, disztichon, durchmars, echó, echt, eucharisztia/​eucharisztikus, eunuch, exarcha, fach, franchise, gaucho, gouache, guttapercha, hierarchia/​​hierarchikus, hipochonder/​hipochondria, ichtioszaurusz, jacht, kapitälchen, krach, lichthóf, macher, machiavellizmus, machináció/machinál, malachit, mannlicher, matriarchátus, mazochista/​mazochizmus, mechanika/​​mechanikus/​​mechanisztikus/​mechanizál/​mechanizmus, mettlachi, moloch, monarchia/​monarchikus/​monarchista, oligarcha/​oligarchia/​oligarchikus, orchidea, patriarcha/​patriarchális/​patriarchátus, pech/​peches, poncho, poncichter, psziché/​pszichiáter/​pszichiátria/​pszichikai/​pszichikum/​pszicho-/​​pszichózis, richtig, rizskoch, sarlach, stich, strichel, szacharin, szinekdoché, sztrichnin, technika/​technikum/​technikus/​technokrácia/​technokrata/​​technológia/​technológus, trachoma, trocheus, vlach, winchester.

Officially recognized given names: Achilles, Achillesz, Áchim, Archibald, Joachim, Melchior, Orchidea, Psziché, Ráchel, Richárd.

Surnames (a selection from notable people): Aulich, Damjanich, Forgách, Keglevich, Knézich, Kovách, Laczkovich, Madách, Maderspach, Orlay Petrich, Széchenyi, Széchényi, Zách, Zichy.

Geographical names (along with their derivations, e.g. chilei): Charlestown, Chatham-szigetek, Chile, Chișinău, Déli-Georgia és Déli-Sandwich-szigetek, Liechtenstein, Nouakchott, Seychelle-szigetek as well as two settlements in Hungary, Chernelházadamonya and Zichyújfalu, a hill in Budapest, Széchenyi-hegy (named after István Széchenyi) and a neighborhood in Budapest, Széchenyihegy (named after the hill).

Declension

Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, back harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	ch	ch-k
accusative	ch-t	ch-kat
dative	ch-nak	ch-knak
instrumental	ch-val	ch-kkal
causal-final	ch-ért	ch-kért
translative	ch-vá	ch-kká
terminative	ch-ig	ch-kig
essive-formal	ch-ként	ch-kként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	ch-ban	ch-kban
superessive	ch-n	ch-kon
adessive	ch-nál	ch-knál
illative	ch-ba	ch-kba
sublative	ch-ra	ch-kra
allative	ch-hoz	ch-khoz
elative	ch-ból	ch-kból
delative	ch-ról	ch-król
ablative	ch-tól	ch-któl
non-attributive possessive - singular	ch-é	ch-ké
non-attributive possessive - plural	ch-éi	ch-kéi

Possessive forms of ch
possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	ch-m	ch-im
2nd person sing.	ch-d	ch-id
3rd person sing.	ch-ja	ch-i
1st person plural	ch-nk	ch-ink
2nd person plural	ch-tok	ch-itok
3rd person plural	ch-juk	ch-ik

See also

• (Latin-script letters) betű; A a, Á á, B b, C c, Cs cs, D d, Dz dz, Dzs dzs, E e, É é, F f, G g, Gy gy, H h, I i, Í í, J j, K k, L l, Ly ly, M m, N n, Ny ny, O o, Ó ó, Ö ö, Ő ő, P p, R r, S s, Sz sz, T t, Ty ty, U u, Ú ú, Ü ü, Ű ű, V v, Z z, Zs zs. Only in the extended alphabet: Q q W w X x Y y. Commonly used: ch. Also defined: à ë. In surnames (selection): ä aa cz ds eé eö ew oe oó th ts ÿ.

Irish

Pronunciation

1. IPA^(key): /x/, /ç/

Letter

ch (upper case Ch)

1. A digraph in Irish orthography

Latvian

Letter

ch (lower case, upper case CH, mixed case Ch)

1. (obsolete) a letter used in older, pre-World-War-II Latvian spelling, but now replaced everywhere by h (upper case H)

Usage notes

This letter can still be found in older books, or in books written by the Latvian diaspora prior to the fall of the Soviet Union. It used to represent the sound of IPA symbol /x/, as distinct from /h/; but since these sounds have merged as /x/ in current Latvian pronunciation, <h> (= /x/) is now used in all cases.

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /x/

Letter

ch (upper case CH, mixed case Ch)

1. The twelfth letter of the Lower Sorbian alphabet, called cha and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

Alphabetized between H and I.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) pismik; A a, B b, C c, Č č, Ć ć, D d, E e, Ě ě, F f, G g, H h, Ch ch, I i, J j, K k, Ł ł, L l, M m, N n, Ń ń, O o (Ó ó), P p, R r, Ŕ ŕ, S s, Š š, Ś ś, T t, U u, W w, Y y, Z z, Ž ž, Ź ź
• (obsolete letters) B́ b́, Ė ė, Ḿ ḿ, Ṅ ṅ, Ṕ ṕ, Ṙ ṙ, ſ, ß, Ꞩ ẜ, Ẃ ẃ, Ẇ ẇ, Ż ż

Mam

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʃʰ/

Letter

ch (uppercase Ch)

1. A letter of the Mam alphabet.

Osage

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [t͜sʰ]

Letter

ch

1. A letter of the Osage Latin alphabet. Osage script 𐓴.

Slovak

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /x/

Letter

ch (upper case Ch)

1. The sixteenth letter of the Slovak alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) písmeno; A a, Á á, Ä ä, B b, C c, Č č, D d, Ď ď, Dz dz, Dž dž, E e, É é, F f, G g, H h, Ch ch, I i, Í í, J j, K k, L l, Ĺ ĺ, Ľ ľ, M m, N n, Ň ň, O o, Ó ó, Ô ô, P p, Q q, R r, Ŕ ŕ, S s, Š š, T t, Ť ť, U u, Ú ú, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Ý ý, Z z, Ž ž

Further reading

• “ch”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024

Spanish

Letter

ch (lower case, upper case CH, mixed case Ch)

1. che, the former fourth letter of the Spanish alphabet, after c and before d

Usage notes

• Since 1994, this letter has been treated as c followed by h for collation (sorting) purposes only. In 2010, this letter was officially removed by the RAE from the Spanish alphabet.

Further reading

• “ch”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish ch.

Pronunciation

• (letter name, chiefly upper class): IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃe/, [ˈt͡ʃɛ]

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /ˈtse/, [ˈt͡sɛ]

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /ˈse/, [ˈsɛ]

• (phoneme, chiefly upper class): IPA^(key): /t͡ʃ/, [t͡ʃ]

• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /ts/, [ts]

• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /s/, [s]
• Rhymes: -e

Letter

ch (lower case, upper case CH, Baybayin spelling ᜆ᜔ᜐᜒ) (historical)

1. The fourth letter of the Tagalog alphabet (Abecedario), called che and written in the Latin script.

Uzbek

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /tʃ/

Letter

ch (upper case Ch)

1. The twenty-eighth letter of the Uzbek alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) harf; A a, B b, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, X x, Y y, Z z, Oʻ oʻ, Gʻ gʻ, Sh sh, Ch ch, Ng ng

Welsh

Pronunciation

• (standard) IPA^(key): /ɛχ/
  • (informal) IPA^(key): /χ(ː)/

Letter

ch (lower case, upper case Ch)

1. The fourth letter of the Welsh alphabet, called èch and written in the Latin script. It is preceded by C and followed by D.

Usage notes

Like the other Welsh digraphs, ch is considered a distinct letter of the Welsh alphabet for all purposes, including collation. Thus, chwech is alphabetically sorted after cyllell.

Mutation

• ch cannot be mutated in Welsh.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) llythyren; A a (Á á, À à,  â, Ä ä), B b, C c, Ch ch, D d, Dd dd, E e (É é, È è, Ê ê, Ë ë), F f, Ff ff, G g, Ng ng, H h, I i (Í í, Ì ì, Πî, Ï ï), J j, L l, Ll ll, M m, N n, O o (Ó ó, Ò ò, Ô ô, Ö ö), P p, Ph ph, R r, Rh rh, S s, T t, Th th, U u (Ú ú, Ù ù, Û û, Ü ü), W w (Ẃ ẃ, Ẁ ẁ, Ŵ ŵ, Ẅ ẅ), Y y (Ý ý, Ỳ ỳ, Ŷ ŷ, Ÿ ÿ)

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “ch”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

Xhosa

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ᵏǀʰ/

Letter

ch (upper case Ch)

1. A digraph in Xhosa orthography.