Etymology: Origin uncertain. Apparently related to later charver v.Many commentators regard charver v. as the primary word in the group, although it is first attested considerably later; this is not implausible, as quot. 1846 is the sole example of the noun which has been identified from before the mid 20th cent. See further discussion at charver v.

Etymology: < Angloromani chava man, child, boy < Romani čhavo (see chavvy n.).

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Compare earlier charver n.¹, which is apparently related, and from which the verb could be derived, although most have assumed that the opposite is the case (in spite of the chronology of the first attestations, which may well be accidental). Both words have been identified as part of Polari slang (compare I. Hancock Shelta and Polari in P. Trudgill (ed.) Language in the British Isles (2003) 384–403), although they may not have originated as part of it.Perhaps compare Italian chiavare to have sex with, spec. slang use of chiavare to fasten, fix (ultimately < classical Latin clavus nail: see clavus n.); the initial affricate could perhaps reflect an Italian regional (perhaps Genoese) form. Alternatively, perhaps compare French chauffeur to warm, to heat (see chafe v.) or English chafe v. (compare the English regional (northern) forms chauve, chawve, chorve, etc.), or perhaps compare either Spanish chafar (probably ultimately of imitative origin) or North African French chafer both in sense ‘to rumple, crush’. (There is apparently no evidence for a supposed Romani verb *charvo to interfere with.)