chee chee

See also: chee-chee

English

Alternative forms

• chee-chee

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

Probably from Spanish chichi

Noun

chee chee (plural chee chees)

1. (US, slang, chiefly in the plural) A breast, tit.

Etymology 2

Hobson-Jobson (see References) stated that the word is "said to be taken from chi (fie!), a common native (South Indian) interjection of remonstrance or reproof, supposed to be much used by the class in question. The term is, however, perhaps also a kind of onomatopoeia, indicating the mincing pronunciation which often characterises them." Hotten stated in his 1870 The Slang Dictionary "it takes its origin from a very common expression of these half-caste females, "CHEE-CHEE," equivalent to our "Oh, fie! - Nonsense! - For shame!" Merriam-Webster (see References) states "probably from Hindi chī-chī fie!, literally, dirt".

Noun

chee chee (countable and uncountable, plural chee chees) (UK, slang, archaic, offensive, 19th century)

1. (countable, ethnic slur) A mixed-race person of British and Eurasian origin and in particular of Anglo-Indian descent.
   • 1781 March 17, Hicky's Bengal Gazette:

     Pretty little Looking-Glasses, / Good and cheap for Chee-chee Misses.

   • 2021, Robyn Andrews, Merin Simi Raj, Anglo-Indian Identity, page 401:

     Chee-chees, blacky-whites, half castes, Anglo-Indians. Midnight's orphans. The Brits hated us for giving human form to their rapacious colonial lust.

2. (chiefly attributive) The speech style of these people.
   • 1873 October, Fraser's Magazine, section 437:

     He is no favourite with the pure native, whose language he speaks as his own in addition to the hybrid minced English (known as chee-chee), which he also employs.

   • 1881 August 26, St. James's Gazette:

     There is no doubt that the 'Chee Chee twang,' which becomes so objectionable to every Englishman before he has been long in the East, was originally learned in the convent and the Brothers' school, and will be clung to as firmly as the queer turns of speech learned in the same place.

   • 2021 September 8, sesquiotic.com The chi chi I know refers to the sing-song accent of some Anglo-Indian women. Perhaps it’s a term that is now out of date.

References

• Henry Yule, A[rthur] C[oke] Burnell (1903) “chee chee”, in William Crooke, editor, Hobson-Jobson […] , London: John Murray, […].
• “chee chee”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.