chele

See also: Chële and chɛlɛ

English

Noun

chele

1. plural of chela

Anagrams

• leceh, leech, leche, Elche, Leech

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɛ.le/
• Rhymes: -ɛle
• Hyphenation: chè‧le

Noun

chele f

1. plural of chela

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek χηλή (khēlḗ).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkʰeː.ɫeː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkɛː.le]

Noun

chēlē f (genitive chēlēs); first declension

1. claw-shaped mechanism, trigger

Declension

First-declension noun (feminine, Greek-type, nominative singular in -ē).

	singular	plural
nominative	chēlē	chēlae
genitive	chēlēs	chēlārum
dative	chēlae	chēlīs
accusative	chēlēn	chēlās
ablative	chēlē	chēlīs
vocative	chēlē	chēlae

References

• “chele”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• "chele", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “chele”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “chele”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “chele”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Middle English

Alternative forms

• cheele, chill, chyll (Late Middle English)
• chel, cheyle (Early Scots); chile, chule (Southern, Southwest Midland)

Etymology

PIE root
*gel-

Inherited from Anglian Old English ċele, from Proto-West Germanic *kali, from Proto-Germanic *kaliz; Southern Middle English chile is from West Saxon Old English ċiele, while Late Middle English chill is possibly from the spread of this form, though compare Dutch kil.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɛ̞ːl(ə)/
• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃil(ə)/, /ˈt͡ʃyl(ə)/ (Southern, Southwest Midland)
• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃil/ (Late Middle English)

Noun

chele (uncountable)

1. Coldness; lack of heat:
   1. A cold blast or snap; an instance of cold.
   2. (physiology, rare) Phlegm (one of the four humours).
2. A chill; the sensation of cold:
   • c. 1378-9, [William Langland], “Paſſus .x᷒. de visione. et ıı᷒ de Dowel..”, in [Piers Plowman, A Treatise on Sin] (W, B-text), London, published c. 1400, →OCLC, folio 52, recto; republished as Thorlac Turville-Petre, Hoyt N. Duggan, editors, Cambridge, Trinity College, MS B.15.17 (The Piers Plowman Electronic Archive; 2), SEENET, 2014, →ISBN:

     Ac þe carefulle may crie. and carpen at þe yate / Boþe afyngred and a furſt. and foꝛ chele quake. / Is þͬ noon to nyme hym neer. his anoy to amende / But hunten hym as an hound. and hoten hym go þennes

     But those in distress must cry and complain at the gate, / both hungry and thirsty, and shivering from the chill; / there is no one to take them close and relieve their hardship / rather than chasing them like a dog and telling them to go away.

   1. (pathology) The sensation of cold from a fever.

Descendants

• English: chill
• Middle Scots: schill
  • Scots: shill (rare)

References

• “chēle, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• “chill, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “chel(e), cheyle, a.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃele/ [ˈt͡ʃe.le]
• Rhymes: -ele
• Syllabification: che‧le

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Classical Nahuatl celic (“green thing”).

Noun

chele m (plural cheles)

1. (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras) sleep (in the corner of the eye)

   Synonyms: lagaña, legaña

2. (Dominican Republic) cent (currency)

   Synonym: centavo

Derived terms

sleep

• chelito

cent

• chelear
• chelero

Etymology 2

From a vesre form of leche.

Noun

chele f (uncountable) (vesre)

1. milk
2. (vulgar, Rioplatense) semen

Noun

chele m or f by sense (plural cheles)

1. (Central America, colloquial) a fair-skinned person; a white person
2. (Honduras, Nicaragua, colloquial) a blond-haired person

   Synonym: rubio

Adjective

chele m or f (masculine and feminine plural cheles)

1. (Central America, colloquial) fair-skinned
2. (Central America) white
3. (Honduras, Nicaragua, colloquial) blond-haired

   Synonym: rubio

Derived terms

• chelito

Further reading

• “chele”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• “chele”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010