Chippie

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A woman who works at a fast-food shop specializing in fried fish and chips ; a tiny piece of wood broken off from a larger piece
2. An informal term for a female employee at a fish-and-chip takeaway shop ; a small fragment of wood detached from timber or woodwork
3. A female worker serving food at a chip shop ; a miniature wood fragment or sliver separated from a bigger wooden object

Etymology: The word is a plain formation: "chip" with the diminutive or familiar ending "-ie," so a chippie is literally a little chip, the same ending found in words like "doggie" or "movie." "Chip" itself reaches back to Old English "ċipp," a splinter or fragment of wood, and the sense of a fried potato strip came later, which is how a chip shop got its name. Calling a person a chippie is a further step. The same ending turns "chip" into a familiar label for the people who work in these shops, so the term names a worker by the shop they serve. Here the noun has simply taken the job's name from the place, with no separate history behind it.

Synonyms: girl, lady, female, woman, dame