Chew
/tʃuː/noun
To crush or grind food with the teeth; to ponder or worry over something.
Did you know?Chew comes from Old English cēowan, and its deep relatives spread through Germanic languages with meanings tied to biting, gnawing, and crushing food with the teeth.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ǵew-
“to chew, gnaw”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*keuwaną
“to chew”
Old English
OE
cēowan
“to chew, bite, gnaw”
Middle English
ME
cheuen
“to chew”
Modern English
English
chew
“to crush food with the teeth”