chit

/tʃɪt/ (bre, ipa) · /tʃɪt/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈchit/ (ame, mw)

chit — noun

  • chitsingular
  • chitsplural

1. a small piece of paper, often signed, that records money you owe or have paid, o

1.名詞C1
釋義

a small piece of paper, often signed, that records money you owe or have paid, or gives permission for something — used in canteens, military bases, hotels, and old-fashioned shops.

例句

Caio signed a chit at the officers' mess every time he ordered a drink.

sign a chit — recording charges to settle later

The cook handed Nellie a chit for two loaves of bread and a tin of jam.

a chit for + items — voucher to collect goods

同義詞
  • voucher

    a chit you can later exchange for goods or money; broader and more modern

  • slip

    any small piece of paper with writing; less formal than chit

  • docket

    British and Australian; an official slip recording goods or charges

  • IOU

    informal note promising to pay; emphasises debt rather than authorisation

文法句型

a chit for + noun

sign a chit

用法筆記

Subject of 'sign / hand / write' a chit is usually a customer, soldier, or staff member in a closed-account setting (mess, club, hotel). Distinguish from sense 2 by context — sense 1 is always a physical paper, never a person.

常見錯誤

❌I paid the chit at the register.
✅I paid the bill at the register.
💡in a normal cash shop you pay a 'bill' or 'receipt'; 'chit' is for closed-account places where the paper records what you owe.
❌She wrote me a chit on her phone.
✅She wrote me a note on her phone.
💡a chit is by definition a small piece of paper, so digital messages are not chits.

2. an old-fashioned, disapproving label, used mainly by older speakers, for a teena

2.名詞C2
釋義

an old-fashioned, disapproving label, used mainly by older speakers, for a teenage girl or very young female adult whose manner strikes them as cheeky, brash, or lacking proper respect — almost always heard inside the fixed phrase 'a chit of a girl'.

例句

Grandmother snapped that no chit of a girl was going to tell her how to run the family bakery.

fixed phrase: a chit of a girl

The headmistress described Élise as a saucy chit who needed to learn her manners.

old-fashioned disapproving register

同義詞
  • minx

    old-fashioned, playfully disapproving of a cheeky young woman

  • hussy

    stronger and more disapproving; suggests improper behaviour

  • lass

    neutral or affectionate; northern British and Scottish — not disapproving

文法句型

a chit of a girl

that chit

用法筆記

Almost exclusively in the fixed pattern 'a chit of a girl' and almost exclusively used by an older speaker about a younger female. Sounds dated and rude in modern speech; a learner should recognise it in older novels but avoid producing it. Distinguish from sense 1 — sense 2 always refers to a person, never a paper.

常見錯誤

❌My friend Maria is a clever chit.
✅My friend Maria is a clever young woman.
💡'chit' here is always disapproving, never a compliment, so it sounds wrong with a positive adjective.
❌He is just a chit of a boy.
✅He is just a slip of a boy.
💡'chit' in this sense is only used about girls or young women; for a boy, the parallel phrase is 'a slip of a boy'.