chic
[sheek]
- attractive and fashionable; stylish: a chic hat.
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- style and elegance, especially in dress: Paris clothes have such chic.
- stylishness; modishness: the chic of the firstnighters.
- casual and understated style, as in dress or décor, that expresses a specified trendy lifestyle or activity: Black-rimmed glasses bring some geek chic to your outfit.
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Origin of chic
1855–60; < French < German Schick skill
Synonyms
Pronunciation note
The spelling pronunciation [chik] /tʃɪk/ is considered nonstandard except when used facetiously.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
exclusive, swank, modern, elegant, trendy, stylish, mod, current, sharp, chichi, smart, clean, dapper, dashing, modish, natty, dap, faddish, voguishchic
- (esp of fashionable clothes, women, etc) stylish or elegant
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- stylishness, esp in dress; modishness; fashionable good taste
- any of various fashion movements based on a particular lifestyleradical chic; geek chic
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Word Origin
C19: from French, of uncertain origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for chicer
chic
1856, as a noun, "style, artistic skill," from French chic, 19c. in "stylishness" sense, originally "subtlety" (16c.), of unknown origin, perhaps [Klein] related to German Schick "tact, skill," from Middle Low German schikken "arrange appropriately," or Middle High German schicken "to arrange, set in order;" or from French chicane, from chicanerie (see chicanery). The adjectival meaning "stylish" is from 1879 in English, "Not so used in F[rench]." [OED].
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper