chew

Meaning

Verb

1. To crush with the teeth by repeated closing and opening of the jaws; done to food to soften it and break it down by the action of saliva before it is swallowed.
2. To grind, tear, or otherwise degrade or demolish something with teeth or as with teeth.
3. (informal) To think about something; to ponder; to chew over.

Noun

1. The act of chewing; mastication with the mouth.
2. Level of chewiness.
3. A small sweet, such as a taffy, that is eaten by chewing.
4. (informal) Chewing tobacco.
5. A plug or wad of chewing tobacco; chaw or a chaw.
6. (informal) The condition of something being torn or ground up mechanically.

Synonyms

masticate

bite

munch

eat

🍽️

gnaw

champ

crunch

nibble

chaw

manducate

mastication

grind

cud

wad

jaw

chewing

quid

digest

chomp

crush

chew the cud

drink

🥤

plug

ruminate

share

suck

manduction

ingest

cogitate

jointly

kindle

light

marry

chow

chop

meditate

mull

mumble

chewing tobacco

browse

have a smattering of

punish

pups

bite off

reflect

reproach

be chewed

scrunch

chew off

sting

> dzeyo

swallow

taste

think

🤔

think over

understand

bit

well

chew gum

chew tobacco

eat slowly

bethink

take a meal

dine

deliberate

gnaw at

graze

attack

👊

Pronounced as (IPA)

/tʃuː/

Etymology

From Middle English chewen, from Old English ċēowan, from Proto-West Germanic *keuwan, from Proto-Germanic *kewwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵyewh₁-. Cognate with West Frisian kôgje, Low German käwwen, Dutch kauwen, German kauen; also Latin gingīva (“gums”), Tocharian B śuwaṃ (“to eat”), Polish żuć (“to chew”), Persian جویدن (javidan), Pashto ژول (žovạl, “to bite, gnaw”).