chav
or chavs
[chav]
Examples of chav
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Examples of chav
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Where does chav come from?
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Chav appears to come from chavi, the word for “child” in Romany English. While reported in northeast England in the early 1990s, one early written use of chav was on the Usenet group uk.local.kent in 1998, where a user posted: “Traveling from Maidstone to Chatham every day was bad enough. I was born in Brompton so am I a Chav or what?”

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In 2002, chavs appeared in an article in the British Observer, where it was used to refer to girls from Chatham, a town in Kent in South East England, who wore fancy jewelry and were viewed as sexually promiscuous. Due to the link to Chatham, some wrongly claimed chav comes from Chatham average.
Chav spread in the UK in the early 2000s to stereotype a kind of youth, especially males, who wear label sportswear and act in a brash, confrontational manner. The slang wigger is something of an American equivalent, as is ned in Scotland or scanger in Ireland.
In 2004, Oxford Dictionaries named chav their first ever Word of the Year, thrusting it into a greater spotlight.

Neil Turner’s Blog
Chav is controversial, though, as it comes with pejorative class associations and helps fuel class divisions. The slang typically targets lower-class people in the UK. Some characterized the 2011 England riots as an attack by chavs on decent society. Blogs and websites such Chavtowns and iLiveHere “chronicle” poorer neighborhoods that are supposedly home to chavs.
Who uses chav?
Chavs is commonly used by certain residents of the UK to complain about so-called chavs and their petty-criminal or drunken behavior, often during association football matches.
Forgot how absolutely VILE the chavs are in thurcroft
— Katelynn 🌷 (@kat3lynn99) July 17, 2018
Ones idea of hell on earth, surrounded by face painted drunken chavs. #ENGCOL pic.twitter.com/v670aHeKhQ
— Sgt Arthur Wilson (@SgtArthurWilson) July 3, 2018
3 reasons I hate summer.
1.Too hot.
2. Insects.
3. Fat chavs with shit tattoos walking around shirtless.— Little Al ™ (@EvertonAl) July 17, 2018
Sometimes, the female chavette is also said to cause problems.
Had a fun little shopping trip with @_sophiegr minus some little chavette girls staring at me!
— Lauren Grant (@Laurengrant00) March 5, 2013
To the chavette on my train. There is nothing so important in your life that you need a ringtone that loud.
— ☕️ Home Malone 🍆 (@MattMaloneMD) January 3, 2013
Nobody likes a hooligan, but be mindful that chavs is considered derogatory, loaded with classism.