צ׳יפס

Hebrew

Etymology

from English chips, plural form of chip (see further etymology there).

Noun

צִ׳יפְּס • (chips) m (plural indefinite צִ׳יפְּסִים)

1. chips, french fries

   Synonym: (formal, puristic) טוגן

2. chips, crisps

   Synonyms: (formal) חטיף תפוחי אדמה, (colloquial, genericized brand name) תפוצ׳יפס

Usage notes

• the first sense is from British English while the second is from American English
• the word is normally used as a mass noun (like spaghetti in English) with the plural form only used colloquially to mean "types of chips", "bags of chips" or "portions of chips" and sometimes also as a regular plural form when counting chips individually e.g. "חמישה צ'יפסים" "five chipses" (the normal form is "חמש חתיכות צ'יפס" "five pieces of chips") but almost never when talking about an unspecified amount of chips e.g. "הרבה צ'יפס" not "הרבה צ'יפסים"
• the English singular form (צ׳יפ) is used in Hebrew only in the sense of "microchip"