Etymology: A consonantal digraph, which in various languages (e.g. Welsh, Spanish, Czech) is treated as a distinct letter, placed in the Alphabet after c . In English it is not so treated formally, but in its characteristic and proper sound /tʃ/ which it has in all native words, it practically adds an additional symbol to the alphabet. It has, however, in English other values; viz. those in chyle , and champagne , which might be expressed otherwise by k and sh ; and that in loch , which occurs only in Scotch, Welsh, or foreign words. The combination ch was foreign to native Roman spelling; it was introduced to represent the Greek aspirate or affricate Χ (as Θ, Φ, were similarly represented by th , ph ). In Latin practice, however, simple c was often substituted, e.g. χάρτης , charta , carta , χαιρέϕυλλον , chærephyllum , cærefolium , and this represented the actual pronunciation, for in the development of the Romanic languages, ch in popularized words was treated precisely as c . But in these languages, the symbol ch has been laid hold of for various purposes. In Italian it is a supplemental symbol used to indicate the hard or /k/ sound of c before the vowels i and e , where c itself stands for /tʃ/, as in archi /ˈarki/ plural of arco , chi /ki/ < Latin qui . In very early French, it also occurs in the writing of some dialects, or some scribes, with the value of /k/; but its typical Old French use was to represent the palatalized sound which Central Old French developed from original c /k/ before a , as in Latin carrus , cārus , causa , Old French char , chier , chose , but which Northern Old French, on the other hand, developed < c before e and i , as in chertain , cachier , cherise , where Central Old French had c (= /ts/), certain , chacier , cerise . The symbol ch was not used (or only accidentally) in Old English; for, although the sound /tʃ/ was already developed in English before the 10th cent., it was still written c(e) , as in ceosan , ceaster , fecc(e)an . But at the Norman Conquest, the symbol ch was introduced from France, and used not only for the new French words as charite , richesse , but also in the Old English words as in cheosen , chester , fecche , etc. This value of the digraph has ever since been retained in English, while in French the sound was at length worn down from /tʃ/ to /ʃ/, as in chief , chef , Old French /tʃ(i)ɛf/ now /ʃɛf/, English chief /tʃiːf/. Where the c was originally double, and after a short vowel, the early writing was cch , but subsequently tch , as in Old English wrecc(e)a , Middle English wrecche , now wretch . After a long vowel, simple ch is used, as in coach , teach , brooch ; but sometimes (from various historical causes) simple ch occurs after a short vowel, as in rich , much , and tch (rarely) after a long vowel, as in aitch . After a consonant (preserved or lost) simple ch is used, as in perch , which , such . The sound /tʃ/ also occurs in Slavonic and many non-European languages, and is usually spelt ch in words thence taken into English, as in chabouk , chark , cheetah , chintz , chouse . ch has the sound of /k/ in words taken from Greek (or Hebrew through Greek) directly, or through Latin, Italian, or French, as in chasm , chimera , chirography , chyle , Rechabite . Only in a few of these, which were popular words in Romanic, e.g. cherub , archbishop , does the /tʃ/ sound occur. ch has the sound of sh /ʃ/ in words from modern French; occasionally in words really from Old French, which are now erroneously treated as if from modern French, as chivalry , champaign . ch has also the value of a guttural spirant /x/; but this is not a native English sound, and is only used in English in an accurate pronunciation of Scotch, Celtic, Dutch, German, Slavonic, or non-European words, in which the sound occurs. This sound existed in Old English, but was there written h (and g ) as in burh , riht ; for this the Norman scribes substituted the digraph gh (burgh , right ), which is still retained, though the sound was lost in the 16–17th century. The same digraph is used to represent the Irish guttural spirant in lough , Monaghan , curragh ; but the Celtic languages themselves use ch (as in Welsh Machynlleth and Gaelic clachan ), and this is followed in Lowland Scotch, as in loch , pibroch , broch , tocher . The Germanic languages generally used h or hh for this sound, as in Gothic mahts , Old Saxon and Old High German maht , Old English meaht ; but ch (rarely kh ) was introduced initially, in Upper German, for the affricated sound of c /k/ as chamara /ˈkxaməra/, chirihha , chalch , whence it was extended to the spirant /x/, and gradually substituted for the earlier Old High German spelling h , hh ; so that this is now regularly written ch in German and Dutch: compare Gothic ahtau , Old Saxon and Old High German ahto , Old English eahta , modern German and Dutch acht eight. The same symbol is used for this sound in most Slavonic languages which use the Roman alphabet, and thus sometimes in the Romanization of Russian Χ (Cherson , Astrachan ), and also of the kindred sounds in some Eastern languages (where however kh is more general); and from all these sources it enters to some extent into English spelling, though the mere English reader usually pronounces it as /k/. As Old English c(e)- , c(i)- , has regularly become ch- , these constitute one important section of the ch- words in modern English; another consists of the Old French words in ch- from Latin ca- . Of the rest, the chief are those derived < Greek words in χ-, directly, or through Latin (Italian, French) ch- . The remainder consist of a few words from Slavonic or non-European languages, or of onomatopoeic origin. ch initial interchanges with c , k , sh . Since Old Northern French retained the ca- , which Central French changed to cha- , che- , French words were often adopted in English in both forms, usually first from Northern (Norman) French, and afterwards from Central French. Sometimes one, sometimes the other, sometimes both, of these have survived, see e.g. caitiff n. and adj., camel n., campion n.¹, champion n., cannel n.², channel n.¹, canal n., chalice n., champ n.¹, catch v., chase v.¹, chacche v., cattle n., chattel n. The Northern English also in certain cases resisted the palatalization of Old English c , or took the parallel k form of Norse or Low German: hence northern caf , cauk n., kirk n., carl n.¹, cheeselip n., beside southern chaff n.¹, chalk n., church n.¹, churl n., cheeselip n. Compare on the other hand Kentish chalf = calf n.¹ Confusion between ch , sch , sh , was not infrequent in Middle English, e.g. schin = chin n.¹, chever = shiver v.¹ This was sometimes graphical, but partly also dialectal; there are varieties of northern dialect which still use initial /ʃ/ for /tʃ/. Variant forms like chaco n., shako n., chagrin n., shagreen n., champoo , shampoo n., are of more recent, and chiefly of phonetic origin.