chav

See also: čhâv

English

A caricature of a chav.

Etymology

Origin uncertain; probably of (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Angloromani origin. Compare Romani chavi (“male child”) or chavo, shavo (“female child”), chal (“boy”), chavvy (“mate, friend”), compare Swedish tjej; possible cognate with Spanish chaval, German Chabo. See also charva.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʃæv/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æv

Noun

chav (plural chavs)

1. (UK, derogatory, offensive) A working-class youth, especially one associated with aggression, poor education, and a perceived "common" taste in clothing and lifestyle.

   Synonyms: charva, ned, pikey; see also Thesaurus:chav

   Coordinate term: chavette

   • (Can we date this quote?), Dizzee Rascal (lyrics and music), “Creeper (Freestyle)”:

     Lyrical staff / Never could they ever take me for a chav / Scholar in the English, scholar in the Math / Dizzee ain't no riff raff

   • 2011, ‘Giving the poor a good kicking’, The Economist, 18 Jun 2011:

     His book concerns ‘chavs’, a supposed underclass of ill-educated, fast-breeding, violent and amoral poor people currently plaguing Britain.

Derived terms

• chavelling
• chavster
• chavtastic
• chavving
• chavvy

 

Translations

relating to a youth from a working class background, aggressive with poor education

• French: racaille (fr) f, cacou (fr) m
• German: Asi (de) m
• Hebrew: ערס (he) m
• Italian: tamarro (it) m, zingaro (it) m, coatto (it) m, scugnizzo (it) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: dresiarz (pl) m, dres (pl) m, prawilniak m
• Serbo-Croatian: dizelaš (sh) m
• Spanish: flaite m (slang, Chile), cani (es) m, choni (es) f (Spain), poligonero m, poligonera f (Spain)

See also

• mush

Further reading

• chav on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

• "Good news for chavs: they may be cool people soon" by Robin Young, The Times, 2004-10-19, accessed 2005-04-15
• World Wide Words: chav, by Michael Quinion, accessed 2005-04-15
• Posting by "Quizmonster" in The Answer Bank, 2005-02-22, accessed 2005-04-15
• Posting by "Dick Jones" in FrizzyLogic, 2004-03-19, accessed 2005-04-15
• "The Chavs are Coming", The Irish Times 2005-03-23, accessed 2005-04-15
• Bragg, M. 'The Adventure of English', London, Hodder and Stoughton, 2003: 26.

Anagrams

• HVAC