Chap
/tʃæp/noun
A man or boy; an informal term for a fellow or guy.
Did you know?The word is historically tied to commerce: Old English *céap* meant “trade” or “barter,” and it survives in words like *cheap* and *chapman*—so a “chap” is shadowed by the language of buying and selling.
Etymological Timeline
Old English
OE
céap
“trade, purchase, barter”
Old English
OE
céapmann
“merchant, trader (literally “trade-man”)”
Middle English
ME
chapman
“dealer, peddler, merchant”
17th Century
English
chap
“a man, fellow; originally a shortened form of chapman”
Modern English
English
chap
“an informal word for a man or boy”