Word.ws English Dictionary

chip

/t͡ʃɪp/

chip noun: a small piece broken from a larger piece of solid material.

chip: a small piece broken from a larger piece of solid material
Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

chip (plural chips)

  1. A small piece broken from a larger piece of solid material.
    • The floor of the sculptor's studio was strewn with chips of marble.
    • The universe is finished; the copestone is on, and the chips were carted off a million years ago.1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 3
  2. A damaged area of a surface where a small piece has been broken off.
    • This cup has a chip in it.
  3. A token used in place of cash.
    • If the second player does raise three chips, and all the other players drop, the player who opened may stay in by putting three more chips in the pot, for then he will have put in precisely as many chips as the second player.2002, Albert H. Moorehead, Hoyle′s Rules of Games, page 46
  4. A medallion.
    • AA chips showing duration of abstinence (6 months)2023, Thomas Thurnell-Read, Mark Monaghan, Intoxication: Self, State and Society, page 135
  5. (dated, slang) A sovereign (the coin).
  6. A circuit fabricated in one piece on a small, thin substrate; a microchip.
    • But sources close to the company said the chip contains two direct memory access controllers, two interrupt controllers, a timer, a memory mapper from Texas Instruments, and a Motorola Inc. real-time clock.1986 September 1, Tom Moran, Lisa L. Spiegelman, New Chip Said to Contain Seven PC AT Chip Functions, InfoWorld, page 5
  7. A hybrid device mounted in a substrate, containing electronic circuitry and miniaturised mechanical, chemical or biochemical devices.
    • Fig. 4(a) shows a schematic design of the micropump chip.2002, Koji Ikuta, Atsushi Takahashi, Kota Ikeda, Shoji Maruo, User-Assembly Fully Integrated Micro Chemical Laboratory Using Biochemical IC Chips for Wearable/Implantable Applications, Yoshinobu...
    • Fig. 0.3 is an image of the front and back views of a drug delivery microchip made of silicon and painted with gold, with a U.S. dime (10 cents). The chip in the picture consists of 34 nano-sized wells each of which is capable of housing 24 nl (nano liters) of drug. It is possible to make at least...2007, Elisabeth S. Papazoglou, Aravind Parthasarathy, Bionanotechnology, page 6
  8. (Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, archaic, plural-normally) A deep-fried strip of potato; see also usage note at French fries.
    • I always say the best way to judge an establishment is by its chips because if you can’t master that, what can you do?2023 July 21, Billie Schwab Dunn, “I Tried Wetherspoons Food for the First Time-I Feared I'd Get Scurvy...”, in Daily Star
    • Do you want ketchup, mustard, or mayonnaise on your chips?
    Synonyms:
    fries, fry, French fry
  9. (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, US, especially, in plural) A thin, crisp, fried slice of potato, a crisp; occasionally a similar fried slice of another vegetable or dried fruit.
    • They made their own potato chips from scratch... He ate a tortilla chip with guac... served with a side of apple chips...
    Synonyms:
    crisp
  10. (sports such as soccer) A shot during which the ball travels more predominantly upwards than in a regular shot, as to clear an obstacle.
    • Oxlade-Chamberlain saw his attempted chip well blocked by goalkeeper Costanzo at the start of the second half.2011 September 28, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos”, in BBC Sport
  11. A light shot with a downward slice, usually played from close to the net.
  12. A low shot, usually played at short range around and onto a green, intended to travel a short distance through the air and roll the remainder of the way towards the hole.
Show 11 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. A very light shot that hits the cue ball so softly that it barely moves an object ball into a pocket without the cue ball going in as well.
  2. A takeout that hits a rock at an angle.
  3. A dried piece of dung, often used as fuel.
  4. (New Zealand, Northern) A receptacle, usually for strawberries or other fruit.
    Synonyms:
    punnet, pottle
  5. A small, near-conical piece of food added in baking.
    • chocolate chip
  6. A small often rectangular patch of colour printed on coated paper, or displayed on a screen, for colour selection and matching.
  7. The triangular piece of wood attached to the log line.
  8. (historical) Wood or Cuban palm leaf split into slips, or straw plaited in a special manner, for making hats or bonnets.
  9. (archaic, derogatory) Anything dried up, withered, or without flavour.
  10. The smallest amount; a whit or jot.
    • One captain that I sailed with was not a chip better than the one we’re with now.1858, R M Ballantyne, The Coral Island
  11. A small basket used for packaging fruit.
    • He turned suddenly from a chip of strawberries, drew a gold watch from his fob and held it at its chain's length.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 10: Wandering Rocks]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 218

Verb (1)

chip (third-person singular simple present chips, present participle chipping, simple past and past participle chipped)

  1. (transitive) To chop or cut into small pieces.
    • The workers chipped the dead branches into mulch.
    • Once it [a snowdrop variety] became established, some bulbs were lifted and passed on to be chipped (i.e. cut into small pieces and grown on).2015 February 7, Val Bourne, “The quiet man of the world of snowdrops”, in The Daily Telegraph (London), page G8
  2. (transitive) To break small pieces from.
    • Be careful not to chip the paint.
  3. (intransitive) To become chipped.
    • This varnish chips easily.
  4. (dialectal, transitive) To chisel (something), to chisel on (something).
    • The fitter was chipping and filing a workpiece clamped in his vise.
  5. (dialectal, intransitive) To use a chisel.
    • The fitters were chipping and filing furiously to meet their deadline.
  6. (transitive) To strike or play (the ball or other implement) as a chip shot.
    • Koeman identified Southampton’s third as their finest goal of the game. Jack Cork, the most underrated player at a much-lauded club, swept the ball out wide to Tadic, who waited for Cork to run to the back post before chipping the ball across to him to slam in a deserved goal from close range...2014 October 18, Paul Doyle, “Southampton hammer eight past hapless Sunderland in barmy encounter”, in The Guardian
  7. (transitive, sports such as soccer) To beat (an opposing player) by use of a chip shot, such as by looping the ball over the head of the opposing goalkeeper.
    • Typically when someone scores a stunning goal this early in the season — it’s only Week 2 — it gets forgotten, or at the very least lost in the shuffle after eight more months of worthy GOTY candidates. Not this year, though, because no one is forgetting Amarikwa chipping Adam Kwarasey from 35...2016 March 13, Andy Edwards, “VIDEO: San Jose’s Quincy Amarikwa chips, goes upper-90 from 35 yards out”, in NBCSports.com
  8. (transitive) To move (a ball) a relatively short distance by means of an oblique contact.
    • In potting the black, he also managed to chip the red off the side cushion.
  9. (informal, transitive) To fit (an animal) with a microchip.
  10. (transitive) To upgrade an engine management system, usually to increase power.
  11. (intransitive, often) To ante (up).
  12. (UK, often, transitive) To contribute.
    • Everyone needs to chip in £1 for George's leaving collection.
  13. (also to chip at) To make fun of.
    • They chip me about giving that young judy the cross; but I dont care: I stand up to them proper, and tell them that if she hadnt a better right to it than they, she'd be where they are.1923, George Bernard Shaw, Saint Joan
    • That sounded a trivial message, but the man began to cry. 'That's her', he sobbed. 'She was always chipping me about my collars'.1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019
  14. (slang) To kill.

Verb (2)

chip (third-person singular simple present chips, present participle chipping, simple past and past participle chipped)

  1. (UK, intransitive, slang) To leave.
    • ‘Lloyd, I’m gonna chip.’ ‘You just got here!’ ‘I know–but I gotta chip. Got shit to do.’2012, Zadie Smith, NW, London: Penguin Books, published 2013, →ISBN, page 109

Proper noun (1) capitalized: CHIP

CHIP

  1. (abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of children's health insurance program.
  2. (abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: CHiP

CHiP

  1. (abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of California Highway Patrol.
    Synonyms:
    CHP

Noun (2) capitalized: CHiP

CHiP (plural CHiPs)

  1. An officer of the California Highway Patrol.
    Synonyms:
    CHPer

Proper noun (3) capitalized: Chip

Chip

  1. A diminutive of the male given names Christopher and Charles.
    • "What else? Anyway, here's the genealogy: Charles Junior's only son is Charles the Third - like royalty. He goes by Chip - Cassie's daddy. The mom is Cindy. The dead son was Chad - Charles the Fourth."
      "All Cs," I said. "Sounds like they like order."1993, Jonathan Kellerman, Devil's Waltz, Random House, published 1998, →ISBN, page 26
  2. A nickname used for males who are second-generation namesakes.

Noun (3) capitalized: ChIP

ChIP (uncountable)

  1. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of chromatin immunoprecipitation.

chip meaning in Bengali, Kannada, Punjabi and Gujarati

chip in Bengali

চিপ, চিপ করতে

chip in Kannada

ಚಿಪ್, ಚಿಪ್ ಮಾಡಲು

chip in Punjabi

ਚਿੱਪ, ਚਿਪ, ਚਿੱਪਿੰਗ

chip in Gujarati

ચિપ, ચીપ
More languagesFewer languages
chip in Odia
ଚିପ୍, ଚିପ, ଚିପ୍ କରିବା ପାଇଁ
chip in Sanskrit
खण्ड khaṇḍa
chip in Nepali
चिप, चिप गर्न, चिप गर्नाका लागि
chip in Tagalog
bingas
chip in Malay
kerepek
chip in Indonesian
cip, keripik
chip in Persian
تراشه tarâše, ژتون žeton, چیپس čips
chip in Thai
ชิป chíp, มันฝรั่งทอด man-fà-ràng-tɔ̂ɔt
chip in Vietnamese
phỉnh, vi mạch, mạch tích hợp, vi mạch tích hợp

Examples of chip in a sentence

  • Fish and chips is a traditional British dish.
  • The chip in the picture consists of 34 nano-sized wells each of which is capable of housing 24 nl (nano liters) of drug.2007, Elisabeth S. Papazoglou, Aravind Parthasarathy, Bionanotechnology, page 6:
  • Not this year, though, because no one is forgetting Amarikwa chipping Adam Kwarasey from 35 yards out and burying the ball in the top corner.2016 March 13, Andy Edwards, “VIDEO: San Jose’s Quincy Amarikwa chips, goes upper-90 from 35 yards out”, in NBCSports.com:

All 40 example sentences with chip

Synonyms of chip

25 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of chip

Forms of chip

Noun
pluralchips
pluralCHiPs
Verb
third-person singular presentchips
present participlechipping
past participlechipped
pastchipped

Past tense of chip: chipped

Plural of chip: chips

Origin of chip

Noun from Middle English chip, chippe, from Old English ċipp (“chip; small piece of wood, shaving”), from Old English *ċippian (“to cut; hew”) – attested in Old English forċippian (“to cut off”) –, from Proto-West Germanic *kippōn (“to cut; carve; hack; chop”), from Proto-Germanic *kippōną (“to chip, chop”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵeyb- (“to split; divide; germinate; sprout”). Related to Dutch kip, keep (“notch; nick; score”), Dutch kippen (“to hatch”), German Low German kippen (“to cut; clip; trim; shorten”), German kipfen (“to chop off the tip; snip”), Old Swedish kippa (“to chop”). Compare also chop. The formally similar Old English ċipp, ċypp, ċyp (“a beam; log; stock; post”), from Proto-Germanic *kippaz (“log; beam”) (whence Old Saxon kip (“post”), Old High German kipfa, chipfa (“axle, stave”), Old Norse keppr (“cudgel, club”)) is a different, unrelated word either borrowed from Latin cippus (“stake; pale; post”) or borrowed from the same source language as the Latin. Verb from Middle English chippen, from Old English *ċippian (“to cut; hew”) – attested in Old English forċippian (“to cut off”) – see above.

Words formed from chip

Phrases with chip

63 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with chip

39 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about chip

What does chip mean?
Chip means a small piece broken from a larger piece of solid material.
What is chip in Bengali?
Chip in Bengali is চিপ, চিপ করতে. See Chip meaning in Bengali.
How do you use chip in a sentence?
Fish and chips is a traditional British dish.
What part of speech is chip?
Chip can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce chip?
Chip is pronounced /t͡ʃɪp/.
What is the plural of chip?
The plural of chip is chips.

Words near chip in the dictionary

  1. Chiot
  2. Chiots
  3. Chiou
  4. Chious
  5. Chiozzo
  6. chip
  7. chip and charge
  8. chip and gather
  9. chip and PIN
  10. chip at
  11. chip away

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: chip (page history and authors); CHIP (page history and authors); CHiP (page history and authors); Chip (page history and authors); ChIP (page history and authors); chip (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); chip (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); chip (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); chip (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); chip (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); chip (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-chip.ogg, EN-AU ck1 chip.ogg.

Cite this entry: “chip.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/chip. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.