Chew

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /tʃuː/

Definitions

1. To bite and grind food repeatedly with the teeth before swallowing
2. To crush and break down food using the teeth in a repeated motion before ingestion
3. To masticate food thoroughly with the teeth to prepare it for swallowing and digestion

Etymology: The verb "chew" has a surprisingly ancient and widespread family. Its Old English form "ċēowan" was a plain, everyday word for chewing, and it descends from a Proto-Germanic verb "kewwaną" that is shared by the Germanic languages still spoken today: German "kauen", Dutch "kauwen", West Frisian "kôgje" and Low German "käwwen" all come from the same source. Reaching further back, it is linked to Proto-Indo-European "ǵyewh₁-", and that root also lies behind the Latin "gingīva", meaning "gums", the tissue that surrounds the teeth and that the jaw works against while chewing. The noun "chew", meaning an act of chewing or a piece of something chewed, is older than many people would expect for a noun formed this way. It came into Middle English as "chew" or "cheu" from an Old English form "ġeċēaw", a word meaning "chewing" built from the same Germanic stem as the verb. English thus has a verb and a noun descended side by side from one prehistoric root, and both have stayed in use for over a thousand years.

Synonyms: bite, masticate, gnaw, scrunch, grind

Antonyms: swallow, gulp, injest, devour, consume