# chop
## English
### Pronunciation

* (UK) enPR: chŏp, IPA: /t͡ʃɒp/
* (US) IPA: /t͡ʃɑp/
** Audio (US):(file)
* Hyphenation: chop
* Rhymes: -ɒp

### Etymology 1

From Middle English choppen, chappen (“to chop”), of uncertain origin, possibly onomatopoeic, or a variant of chap (“to become cracked”).
Cognate with Scots chap (“to chop”). Compare also Saterland Frisian kappe, kapje (“to hack; chop; lop off”), Dutch kappen (“to chop, cut, hew”), German Low German kappen (“to cut off; clip”), German kappen (“to cut; clip”), German dialectal chapfen, kchapfen (“to chop into small pieces”), Albanian copë (“piece, chunk”), Old English *ċippian (in forċippian (“to cut off”)). Perhaps related to chip.

#### Noun

chop (countable and uncountable, plural chops)
* A cut of meat, often containing a section of a rib.
    I only like lamb chops with mint jelly.
** 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 18:Of the two fried chops served him for breakfast he ate one and gave Edmund the other, and put a buttered sandwich of bread in his pocket against the accidents of travel.
** 1957, J. D. Salinger, “Zooey”, in Franny and Zooey, published 1961:I was standing at the meat counter, waiting for some rib lamb chops to be cut.
* A blow with an axe, cleaver, or similar implement.
    It should take just one good chop to fell the sapling.
* (martial arts) A blow delivered with the hand rigid and outstretched.
    A karate chop.
* Ocean waves, generally caused by wind, distinguished from swell by being smaller and not lasting as long.
* (poker) A hand where two or more players have an equal-valued hand, resulting in the chips being shared equally between them.
    With both players having an ace-high straight, the pot was a chop.
* (informal, with "the") Termination, especially from employment; the sack.
* (Australia, New Zealand) A woodchopping competition.
** 1924 October 6, The Examiner, Launceston, page 2, column 6:E, C. McsEnulty, who won the chop at the show on Thursday, cut through a foot lying block in 34 seconds[.]
* (dated) A crack or cleft; a chap.
* (uncountable) Aircraft turbulence.

##### Quotations

* For quotations using this term, see Citations:chop.

##### Synonyms

* (dismissal, especially from employment (informal)): axe, pink slip, sack

##### Descendants

* → Japanese: チョップ

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### Verb

chop (third-person singular simple present chops, present participle chopping, simple past and past participle chopped)
* (transitive) To cut into pieces with short, vigorous cutting motions.
    chop wood; chop an onion
* (transitive) To sever with an axe or similar implement.
    Chop off his head.
* (transitive, figurative) To separate or divide.
    We should chop off some of that department's budget.
* (transitive) to give a downward cutting blow or movement, typically with the side of the hand.
* (transitive, baseball) To hit the ball downward so that it takes a high bounce.
* (poker) To divide the pot (or tournament prize) between two or more players. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
* (intransitive) To make a quick, heavy stroke or a series of strokes, with or as with an ax.
* (intransitive) To do something suddenly with an unexpected motion; to catch or attempt to seize.
** 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:Out of a Greediness to get both, he Chops at the Shadow, and Loses the Substance.
* (intransitive) To interrupt; with in or out.
** 1550, Hugh Latimer, Sermon Preached before King Edward:This fellow […] interrupted the sermon, even suddenly chopping in.
* (transitive, Hong Kong) To stab.
** 1959 June 8, China Mail, page 10:A man had chopped a Sanitary Department coolie to death after an argument about money, Supreme Court was told today.
* (computing, transitive, Perl) To remove the final character from (a text string).
    Coordinate term: chomp
* (slang, transitive) To manipulate or separate out a line of cocaine.
    He chopped out a fat line.

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### Derived terms

* Baltimore chop
* big chop
* binary chop
* bust chops
* Chelsea chop
* chop and drop
* chop-chop
* chop chord
* chop cup
* chop down
* chopette
* chop house
* chophouse
* chop it up
* choplet
* choplike
* choplogic
* chop-logic
* chop logic
* chop mill
* chop off
* chop out
* choppable
* chopped and screwed
* chopped liver
* chopped-nose
* chopper
* choppin'
* chopping block
* chopping board
* choppy
* chops
* chop shop
* chop-shop
* chopsocky
* chopstick
* chop up
* chump chop
* confirm plus chop
* fin chop
* first-chop
* for the chop
* French chop
* get the chop
* greenchop
* karate chop
* lambchop
* muttonchop
* mutton chop
* mutton-chop whiskers
* photochop
* pork chop
* pork chop island
* prechop
* reverse chops
* small chops
* stop and chop
* throttle chop
* tomahawk chop
* try out one's own chops
* walleye chop
* wind chop
* wood chop
* woodchop

### Etymology 2

Uncertain, perhaps a variant of chap (“cheap”). Compare Middle English copen (“to buy”), Dutch kopen (“to buy”).

#### Verb

chop (third-person singular simple present chops, present participle chopping, simple past and past participle chopped)
* (obsolete) To exchange, to barter; to swap.
** 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica:this is not to put down Prelaty, this is but to chop an Episcopacy; this is but to translate the Palace Metropolitan from one kind of dominion into another, this is but an old canonicall sleight of commuting our penance.
* To chap or crack.
* (nautical) To vary or shift suddenly.
    The wind chops about.
* (obsolete) To twist words.
** 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Judicature”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:Let not the counsel at the bar chop with the judge.
* To converse, discuss, or speak with another.

##### Derived terms

* chopchurch

#### Noun

chop (plural chops)
* A turn of fortune; change; a vicissitude.

##### Derived terms

* chop and change
* chops and changes

### Etymology 3

From Middle English choppe (“jaw, jawbone”), related to Middle English cheppe (“one side of the jaw, chap”). Perhaps ultimately related to Etymology 1 above.

#### Alternative forms

* chap

#### Noun

chop (plural chops)
* (chiefly in the plural) A jaw of an animal.
* A movable jaw or cheek, as of a vice.
* The land at each side of the mouth of a river, harbour, or channel.
    East Chop
    West Chop

##### Derived terms

* chops

#### References

* “chop”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
* “chops”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

### Etymology 4

Borrowed from Hindi छाप (chāp, “stamp”). Closely related to the similarly descended Malay word cap, which likely reinforced the English usage within the Malay world.

#### Noun

chop (plural chops)
* (colloquial, India, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei) A stamp or seal; a mark, imprint or impression on a document (or other object or material) made by stamping or sealing a design with ink or wax, respectively, or by other methods. [from 19th c.]
* (colloquial, by extension, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei) The device used for stamping or sealing, which also contains the design to be imprinted.
* A mark indicating nature, quality, or brand.
    silk of the first chop
* A licence or passport that has been sealed.
* A complete shipment.
    a chop of tea

##### Derived terms

* chopboat

##### Descendants

* → Cantonese: chop (cop1)
* → Macanese: chop

#### Verb

chop (third-person singular simple present chops, present participle chopping, simple past and past participle chopped)
* (transitive, colloquial, India, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei) To stamp or seal (a document); to mark, impress or otherwise place a design or symbol on paper or other material, usually, but not necessarily, to indicate authenticity. [from 19th c.]
* To seal a licence or passport.

##### Derived terms

* chop dollar
* grand chop
* not much chop

#### References

* Lisa Lim (2016 July 28) “Where does the word 'chop' come from?”, in South China Morning Post‎

### Etymology 5

Shortening.

#### Noun

chop (plural chops)
* (Internet) An IRC channel operator.
** 1996, Peter Ludlow, High Noon on the Electronic Frontier, page 404:IRC supports mechanisms for the enforcement of acceptable behaviour on IRC. Channel operators — "chanops" or "chops" — have access to the /kick command, which throws a specified user out of the given channel.

##### Synonyms

* chanop
* op

### Etymology 6

Shortening of chopper.

#### Noun

chop (plural chops)
* (informal) To fly a helicopter or be flown in a helicopter.
    We chopped back to the base.

### See also

* chop chop
* chop suey

## Chinese
### Alternative forms

* 戳

### Etymology

From English chop.

### Pronunciation

* Cantonese (Jyutping): cop$^1$
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: cop$^1$
*** Cantonese Pinyin: tsop$^7$
*** Sinological IPA : /t͡sʰɔːp̚⁵/

### Noun

chop
* (Hong Kong Cantonese) chop (stamp; seal) (Classifier: 個／个 c)
    郵chop／邮chop [Cantonese] ― jau$^4$ cop$^1$ [Jyutping] ― postal seal

### Verb

chop
* (Hong Kong Cantonese) to stamp; to seal

## Macanese
### Alternative forms

* (possibly dated) chope

### Etymology

Borrowed from English chop, ultimately from Hindi छाप (chāp, “stamp”). Most likely also influenced by Cantonese chop. Sense 2 derives from the absent professor being recorded with a stamp, i.e. a chop, in a register.

### Noun

chop
* official licence
* (slang) an absent professor or teacher
    Hoje tivemos chope de matemática.Today our mathematics professor was absent.(literally, “Today we had chop of mathematics.”)
    O Dr. F. deu chope.Dr. F. is absent.(literally, “Dr. F. gave chop.”)

#### Usage notes

* The examples for sense 2 are in Portuguese; the Macanese equivalents would roughly be Hoze nôs têm chop di matemática and Dr. F. (já) dâ chop respectively.

### References

* Batalha, Graciete Nogueira (1988) “chope”, in Glossário do dialecto macaense: notas linguísticas, etnográficas e folclóricas [Glossary of the Macanese dialect: linguistic, ethnographic and folkloric notes], Macau: Instituto Cultural de Macau, page 404
* www.macaneselibrary.org‎, 2024 August 24 (last accessed)

## Nigerian Pidgin
### Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

### Verb

chop
* eat
* spend

## Silesian
### Alternative forms

* chłop (Southern Silesian)

### Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish chłop.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈxɔp/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ɔp
* Syllabification: chop

### Noun

chop m pers
* man, male
* husband
    Synonym: mōnż
* snowman
    Synonym: śniygulŏk

#### Declension
### Further reading

* chop_chlop in dykcjonorz.eu
* chop in silling.org
* Bogdan Kallus (2020) “chop”, in Słownik Gōrnoślōnskij Gŏdki, IV edition, Chorzów: Pro Loquela Silesiana, →ISBN, page 260
* Aleksandra Wencel (2023) “chop”, in Dykcjůnôrz ślų̊sko-polski, page 114
* Barbara Podgórska, Adam Podgóski (2008) “chop”, in Słownik gwar śląskich [A dictionary of Silesian lects], Katowice: Wydawnictwo KOS, →ISBN, page 55