chétif

Etymology

Borrowed from French chétif.

Adjective

chétif (comparative more chétif, superlative most chétif)

1. Sickly; weak.
   • 1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York 2007, p. 130:

     It was hard to believe this gay, good-looking young chap, laughing and making mock of the very religion he was going into, was the chétif little boy who used to follow the big Horace everywhere and couldn't live without him.

Anagrams

• fetich, fitché, hetfic

Etymology

From Old French chaitif, caitif, from Vulgar Latin *cactivus, from a combination of Latin captīvus (“prisoner”) with Transalpine Gaulish *caxtos, from Proto-Celtic *kaxtos (compare Irish cacht, Welsh caeth). Compare also Italian cattivo (“bad”). See also French captif, a borrowed doublet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃe.tif/

Adjective

chétif (feminine singular chétive, masculine plural chétifs, feminine plural chétives)

1. puny, scrawny
2. meagre, paltry

Further reading

• “chétif” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).