different between chow vs chew

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /t?a?/
• Rhymes: -a?
• Homophone: ciao

Etymology 1

Shortened from chow-chow, Chinese Pidgin English of unclear origin.

Noun

chow (usually uncountable, plural chows)

1. (slang, uncountable) Food, especially snacks.
2. A Chow Chow.
   • 1914, Saki, ‘The Lull’, Beasts and Superbeasts:

     ‘I'd try and grapple with him myself, only I've got my chow in my room, you know, and he goes for pigs wherever he finds them.’
3. (chiefly Australia, slang, now rare) A Chinese person.
   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, Chapter V, p. 74, [2]

     These were the creatures Nawnim had been amazed to see about him on the day of his arrival. When he inquired about them, Anna told him they were Japs an' Chows.

   • 1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society 2010, p. 11:

     ‘Now look here old man if you should ever bump into an interesting Chow from over the river – one with access, follow me? – just you remember High Haven!’

Derived terms

• chow down

Translations

Verb

chow (third-person singular simple present chows, present participle chowing, simple past and past participle chowed)

1. (slang, South Africa) To eat.

Translations

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Chinese ? (zh?u).

Noun

chow (plural chows)

1. A prefecture or district of the second rank in China, or the chief city of such a district.

Etymology 3

Phono-semantic matching of Chinese ? (ch?, literally “to eat”), influenced by the “food” sense of Etymology 1 above.

Noun

chow (plural chows)

1. (mahjong) A run of three consecutive tiles of the same suit.

Verb

chow (third-person singular simple present chows, present participle chowing, simple past and past participle chowed)

1. (mahjong) To call a discarded tile to produce a chow.

Translations

Coordinate terms

• pung
• kong

Anagrams

• owch

English

Etymology

From Middle English chewen, from Old English ??owan, from Proto-West Germanic *keuwan, from Proto-Germanic *kewwan?, from Proto-Indo-European *?yewh?-. Cognate with West Frisian kôgje, Low German käwwen, Dutch kauwen, German kauen); also Latin ging?va (“gums”), Tocharian B ?uwa? (“to eat”), Polish ?u? (“to chew”), Persian ?????? (?av?dan), Pashto ???? (žov?l, “to bite, gnaw”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /t?u?/, /t????/
• (General American) enPR: cho?o, IPA^(key): /t?u/
• Rhymes: -u?

Verb

chew (third-person singular simple present chews, present participle chewing, simple past chewed, past participle chewed or (rare) chewn)

1. To crush with the teeth by repeated closing and opening of the jaws; done to food to soften it and break it down by the action of saliva before it is swallowed.
   • 1578, Henry Lyte, A niewe Herball

     The same chewn upon maketh one to avoid much phlegm.

   • 1971-79, Journal of Glenn T. Seaborg

     And gruesome they are? We find cattle still alive with hindquarters chewn off, still alive with their eyes chewn out, their ears chewn off, their noses and faces chewn till they look like (a) Hamburger, their tails hanging in shreds. Or, we find them after a slow and cruel death. Can you understand why cattlemen will shoot YOUR dog if he is seen wandering on ranchland?

   • 1976, Leonard Tancock (translator), Rameau's Nephew / D'alembert's Dream, by Denis Diderot

     But meanwhile Mademoiselle's book had at least been found under an arm-chair where it had been dragged, chewn up and torn to pieces by a young pug-dog or by a kitten.

   • 2001, Keith Douglass, Seal Team Seven 14: Death Blow

     He wore two sweaters, both moth chewn and filthy but warm.

   • 2010, Tony Reynolds, The Lost Stories of Sherlock Holmes

     His left cheek seemed to have been cut and chewn away?

2. To grind, tear, or otherwise degrade or demolish something with teeth or as with teeth.

3. (informal) To think about something; to ponder; to chew over.
   • 1734, Alexander Pope, Epistle to Cobham

     Old politicians chew on wisdom past.

   • 1711, Matthew Prior, to Mr. Harley, wounded by Guiscard

     He chews revenge, abjuring his offense.

Synonyms

• (crush food with teeth prior to swallowing): bite, chavel, chomp, crunch, masticate
• (degrade or demolish as if with teeth): grind, pulverize, rip, shred, tear
• (think about): contemplate, ruminate, mull, muse, ponder
• See also Thesaurus:ponder

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

chew (countable and uncountable, plural chews)

1. The act of chewing; mastication with the mouth.

2. Level of chewiness.
   • 1996, Adele Puhn, The 5-Day Miracle Diet Companion (?ISBN)

     Once it's cooked, it's not enough of a hard chew to count.

   • 2014, Christian F. Puglisi, Relae: A Book of Ideas (?ISBN), page 140:

     A bread with a strong and solidified gluten network has a nice chew to it, and many types of charcuterie call for just enough work by the teeth to be dangerously addictive. But in all cases, chewy must be combined with an appropriate amount of ...

   • 2015, Jim "Sunny" Edwards, A Footprint in the Sand: The Fishing Edge, Fulton Books, Inc. (?ISBN):

     No matter what I did to the squid, it was a tough chew. I got out my magnifying glass. Still, there was nothing that I could see to make the squid curl when cooked. I decided to tenderize the squid with my rubber hammer.

   • 2015, Aki Kamozawa, H. Alexander Talbot, Gluten-Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table, W. W. Norton & Company (?ISBN)

     To serve, cook the malloredus in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, but with a nice chew to them. Fold into a warm sauce or ragout and serve immediately.

   • 2016, Heather Christo, Pure Delicious, Penguin (?ISBN), page 178:

     While these are a little complicated to make, the result is a thick, toothsome bun that has a nice chew to it but is still soft.

3. A small sweet, such as a taffy, that is eaten by chewing.

4. (informal, uncountable) Chewing tobacco.

5. (countable or uncountable) A plug or wad of chewing tobacco; chaw or a chaw.

6. (uncountable, informal) The condition of something being torn or ground up mechanically.
   • 1995, Keyboard (volume 21, issues 7-12, page 138)

     Avoiding Tape Chew. In the early days of the ADAT, the "V" blocks (two arms that thread the tape around the front of the head) could sometimes get out of alignment and "chew" the outside track […]

Derived terms

Translations