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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

chalk.

A soft, white, powdery limestone (calcium carbonate, CaCO₃).

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/t͡ʃɔːk/Received-Pronunciation/t͡ʃoːk/Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard/t͡ʃɔk/General-American, Scotland/t͡ʃɑk/
  1. A soft, white, powdery limestone (calcium carbonate, CaCO₃).

    uncountable
    chalk cliffs are not recommended for climbing
  2. A piece of chalk, or nowadays processed compressed gypsum (calcium sulfate, CaSO₄), that is used for drawing and for writing on a blackboard (chalkboard).

    countable
  3. Tailor's chalk.

    countable
  4. A white powdery substance used to prevent hands slipping from holds when climbing, or losing grip in weight-lifting or gymnastics, sometimes but not always limestone-chalk, often magnesium carbonate (MgCO₃).

    uncountable
    when working out your next move, it's a good idea to get some more chalk from the bag
  5. A platoon-sized group of airborne soldiers.

    US · countable
  6. The favorite in a sporting event.

    US · countable · uncountable
  7. The prediction that there will be no upsets, and the favored competitor will win.

    US · countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Latin calxbor. Proto-West Germanic *kalk Old English ċealc Middle English chalk English chalk Inherited from Middle English chalk, chalke, from Old English ċealc, from Proto-West Germanic *kalk, borrowed from Latin calx (“limestone”), again borrowed from Ancient Greek χάλιξ (khálix, “pebble”). Doublet of calx and cauk.

verb/t͡ʃɔːk/Received-Pronunciation/t͡ʃoːk/Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard/t͡ʃɔk/General-American, Scotland/t͡ʃɑk/
  1. To apply chalk to anything, such as the tip of a billiard cue.

    chalk your hands before climbing
  2. To record something, as on a blackboard, using chalk.

  3. To use powdered chalk to mark the lines on a playing field.

  4. To record a score or event, as if on a chalkboard.

    figuratively
  5. To manure (land) with chalk.

  6. To make white, as if with chalk; to make pale; to bleach.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Latin calxbor. Proto-West Germanic *kalk Old English ċealc Middle English chalk English chalk Inherited from Middle English chalk, chalke, from Old English ċealc, from Proto-West Germanic *kalk, borrowed from Latin calx (“limestone”), again borrowed from Ancient Greek χάλιξ (khálix, “pebble”). Doublet of calx and cauk.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.